Svastika a její historie v Čechách – Fiksa Radek (2011)

The swastika, or hooked cross, is primarily associated with Hitler and his Nazi doctrine. However, unlike Hitler's thousand-year Reich, the swastika has a history spanning thousands of years. It has appeared on virtually all continents and has been used by nearly all major religions. This is evidenced by ManWoman in the book Swastika - The Return of Innocence. However, the history of the swastika in our territory is less known. Occasionally, an article appears about archaeological finds from Celtic or Roman settlements. But the swastika has a much more extensive occurrence and usage in our region. It was widely used in folk creativity, painted on Easter eggs, printed on textiles, stamped into coins, and adorned shepherd's whips or caps, known as holubinky. It can be found in several paintings. Perhaps the most famous use is in Mucha's Oath of the Youth. It was also used by Mikoláš Aleš in the cycle Life of the Old Slavs or J. V. Kautský on the curtain for the National Theatre in Brno. Buildings are no exception either. A vast swastika decoration can be found at the Prague Loreto. Similarly extensive decoration, but in the interior, can be seen in the Litomyšl Castle. The circular swastika was popular in Gothic architecture, and thus we see it on many Gothic...