Nyhavn!

Classes have let out for spring break today, and this is where I spent my afternoon:
Nyhavn! It actually exists, and it actually is this beautiful! The small harbor is lined with cafes, ships, and loads of Danes enjoying the sun and spirits.

It is one of the quintessential Copenhagen sites for a reason.

And then there is den lille havfru! In reference to Hans Christian Anderson’s story, she sits waiting…

St. Patrick's Day

While it’s not hugely popular in Denmark, Copenhagen celebrated St. Patrick’s day with some Irish dancers, bagpipes, and a participatory parade. Then again, some people get really into it…

I celebrated by going to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The Museum is built around a little park right next to the ocean with the revived humanistic idea of nature as art. It is not intended as a teaching museum, so there aren’t a lot of words or explanations behind the pieces. In this way it is “perceptually democratic.” Young, old, Danish, American, educated, non-educated: what we all have in common is the ability to feel and experience, which is really what art is all about.

See it sort of looks like a Louisiana plantation house, but the story goes that the man who first owned the property had three wives- all named Louise!

Street Sight: Anders Flanderz

Copenhagen is coming out of hibernation! This means an abundance of street performers including this one man band, Anders Flanderz, highly reminiscent of Bert from Mary Poppins…

Very entertaining! Or at least more so than the accordion player who only knows The Winner Takes it All by ABBA and Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli.

P.S. I've just figured out this new-fangled youtube thing. More videos to come!

Czech: Food

Czech food is heavy. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a meat and potatoes kind of gal, but I think I’ll steer clear of the goulash and gravy for a long while.

Fruit in the market

All too common sight of kielbasa and spiced wine stands


Mmm, sugar rolls

Czech: Cesky Krumlov

Czechoslovakia became a nation in 1918. The new borders, drawn by the post WWI Treaty of Versailles, include the Sudetenland, a predominantly German area. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, his goal is to unite all German speakers into one country, so his first target is the Sudetenland, which included Cesky Krumlov. To avoid another war, France and Britain sign the Munich Agreement officially giving the Sudetenland to German. Czech representation was not invited. The Czechs of the Sudetenland were transferred elsewhere and Germans moved into their homes. After the war, the roles were reversed as Germans were transferred from the Sudetenland, often using the same tactics as the Nazis had with armbands and cattle cars. Nationality, a concept created in the 19th century, ceased to be a choice by the 20th century.

Today, Cesky Krumlov is a town untouched by time, hidden in the bend of a river. Tourists are attracted because of the castle (not to mention the Vampire Princess, Eleonora who is doubly sealed into her grave under the church). Without knowing the history of the transfers, you would never know that some 70 years ago, Hitler marched through these very streets.

Czech: Lidice

We went to see what wasn’t there: a town obliterated by the Nazis. Lidice was found to be connected to the assassination of Heydrich, so it was ordered to be destroyed as a symbol of Nazi power. The men were lined up and shot, the women sent to concentration camps, and the children assessed for racial purity to be “reeducated” or sent to a concentration camp. What was once a small farming and mining community is now negative space in memorial to the victims.

Children's memorial

Steps to what was the church

Czech: David Cerny

Our class had the opportunity to meet a contemporary sculptor, David Cerny, whose works are displayed throughout Prague. If I had to describe him in four words, I would say vulgar, scattered, controversial, and absolutely brilliant. But his art speaks for itself:

Cerny's portrayal of King Wenceslas

A rotating skull that got rejected from the mall for which he designed it. It now resides atop a modern art museum.

Cerny has a collection of these identical babies, 10 of which climb the TV tower:

Finally, the men who pee philosophic quotes into a Czech shaped fountain.

I could tell you how these sculptures have been related to anti-communism and nationalism, but the truth is, Cerny never tells the true intention of his boundary pushing works, so I guess I'll leave it open for interpretation... But I will warn you, whatever you say it is, there is a good chance Cerny will say it is the opposite.

Czech: Cubist Architecture

Prague is one of the only places in which Cubism is translated into architecture: House of the Black Madona, which houses the Grand Cafe Orient, with one of the few Cubist interiors
Hmm, Cubist fruit? I think deliscious!

Even a Cubist lamppost

Czech: Art Nouveau

My favorite part of the trip was exploring the work Alfons Mucha. Mucha grew up in the Czechoslovakia but became famous in France with his poster ads for actress Sarah Bernhardt. When he realized his art was being shown in wealthy galleries while his people anguished in poverty, he devoted the remainder of his life to art that would glorify Slavic history in his 20 painting series known as the Slav Epic.

Mucha’s depiction of the seasons

While he never directly associated himself with the movement, his style of curves, natural motifs, and organic women became characteristic of Art Nouveau. In Prague Art Nouveau translates into architecture:

The Grand Hotel Europa, where we had a fine dinner of eggplant and cheese; duck, beets, and bread; and apple strudel.
Stained glass on The Municiple house, designed by Mucha. The restaurant inside is called Francouzska and served us mango crème brulee for dessert. Couple of fine Art Nouveau gals

Czech: Historically Speaking

I think what makes Prague so phenomenal is the mixture of medieval and contemporary history. Our focus was the communist era which begins with the communist revolution in 1948. While it was a popular movement and marked by a peaceful shift, the realization of communism quickly shifted from idealism to practicalism as the government “consolidated” to rid opposition. This all culminates with the Prague Spring in 1968. The Prague Spring had been a general period of warming, of reformed communism, of less restricted freedoms of expression. In 1968, the Soviets decided more order was necessary, and they invaded Czechoslovakia.

As rights were slowly taken away, maybe more in self censorship and fear than de jure, the resistance movement grew. In 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square to protest compliance with extinguished rights.
Resistance continued with Charter 77, an unofficial civic movement of intellectuals and artists who petitioned their government to implement the human rights they had agreed to by signing the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Our class met one signer, Jaroslav Hutka, a folk singer who was sent into exile for singing about freedom to rally resistors.

Communism fell in Czechoslovakia in 1989 with the Velvet Revolution. It was a peaceful overthrow in response to violent police intervention of a student protest. Havel, the same Havel Jaroslav sings of, was elected president of the new Czech Republic.

Long Study Tour: Czech it out

I’ve spent the last 6 days in the Czech Republic exploring themes of nationalism as it relates to WWI, WWII, and the communist era. The trip was associated with my European Memory and Identity course at DIS. For the first four days, I was in Prague which may just be the most beautiful, inspiring place I have ever been (aside from the woods back home of course):

Spring in Stenløse

Saw this while waiting for the bus the other day - put a spring in my step.

Fastelavn!

I guess to best describe Fastelavn, I have to go straight to the senses:

Taste: Fastelavnsbollers. Like a frosted Danish made into a whipped cream sandwich. Delish.

Hear: Bat to barrel in an attempt to “hit the cat out of the barrel,” an old tradition in reference to warding off evil for the year to come. The cat has since been traded in for candy, so it’s a little like a piñata minus the blindfold and spinning. The person to hit out the first board of the barrel becomes the cat king and the one to get the last board is the cat queen.


See: Children dressed up in costumes from Haribo gummies to Alice in Wonderland. They then go door to door singing and asking for candy and money. In this way it is sort of like Halloween, but not as scary. Here's the song:

Touch: WHAK! The kids all decorate bunches of birch branches with candy and ribbon to hit their parents with in the morning. Fastelavn is also an opposite day. Unfortunately for me, the DIS party wasn’t until the weekend after the official Fastelavn, so I couldn’t use it – but it will be in pristine condition for next year!

Fastelavn occurs every year for the Sunday before through Ash Wednesday, the Monday being the official holiday (though parties occurred for the full week before and after). It is the last she-bang prior to Lent, so it’s also like Mardi Gras. However, after the reformation, it became a secular holiday and also includes the traditions of bobbing for apples (but you have to actually eat the whole apple, without using your hands) and eating a pastry on a string (also without hands).