NvB: Bored in Brno?: Cultural Recognitions

Cultural Recognitions

A few notable events related to culture and history of central Europe have or will have happened this week. In Prague, the Charles Bridge celebrates its 650th anniversary.* As the curious still from Karel Vachek's documentary A New Hyperion (1992) indicates, the Bridge is viewed as an artifact of culture that, at least in this illustration, not only metaphorically connects them, but actually places New York, Moscow, and London within the Czech lands. It's a wonderfully suggestive image that visually encapsulates the frequent characterization of the Czechs themselves as a cultural "bridge" between Eastern and Western Europe, Slavic and Germanic cultures, and perhaps even History and the Present. Radio Prague also has a special feature on the bridge.

In late June, UNESCO inscribed the "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian" (stretching over mountains in Slovakia and Ukraine). UNESCO describes the forest as "a transnational serial natural property of ten separate components and as an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests exhibiting the most complete ecological patterns and processes of pure strands of European beech." (More here.)

I haven't experienced the forests much myself, although I was lucky enough to travel through them in June 2005. There is a definite magic to the Ukrainian Carpathians, they have a feeling of incredible ancientness. Villages there seemed highly secluded (in part because most people cannot afford cars to travel long distances, at least not quickly), much more so than similar rural areas in the Czech Republic. Czech fascination for this area is probably most apparent in Ivan Olbracht's novel about Nikola Šuhaj, which has inspired two musicals and a film since the 1970s. Perhaps, to artists and audiences during Communist times, the setting of the Carpathians appealed as a symbol of freedom and independence that was not to be found in Czechoslovakia.

*Of course, that was a long time ago and it seems that there is a bit of dispute. Petr links to a news report that points out a nine-day discrepancy between the Julian calendar in use during Charles IV's reign (fourteenth century) and the current Gregorian reckoning.

Notes:photo and information on the Charles Bridge anniversary is from Patrick Jackson's story at the BBC; Beech forests from UNESCO. I've also discussed the UNESCO recognition of the Moravian verbuňk (recruitment dance) and suggestion to add the Ještěd television tower to UNESCO rosters.

Tags: europe, culture, czech, history, photos, events

Posted 09 July 2007 at 00:35.

The Blog

What is "Bored in Brno"? a) the best Czech movie of 2003, b) a blog about Brno (the Czech Republic's second largest city) and my adventures in and observations of south and east Moravia. I usually post about music, arts, culture, and stuff in Brno; or, I talk about whatever; or, I may bore you.

There's a Czech saying about how you are a new person for every language you learn. Here's your chance to experience Czech vicariously and to become your new self, now conveniently available in English translation. (Or at least something reasonably close to English.)

If you have questions, suggestions, like what you see, or you're just plain bored, don't hesitate to leave a comment or e-mail me.

The Blogger

A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.

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