Zlatá Praha - Proměny města v ilustracích časopisů z šedesátých až osmdesátých let 19. století – Státníková Pavla (2018)

When we walk through Prague today, its historic core, but especially neighborhoods like Smíchov, Holešovice, Bubeneč, Žižkov, Vinohrady, or Karlín, few realize that the face and character of these urban areas were largely shaped by architects, sculptors, and painters who created and realized their projects and artworks during the 1860s to 1880s. Focused on the architectural gems of the distant past from the Gothic or Baroque periods, or on contemporary modern architecture with its cold aloofness and dimensions overshadowing their surroundings, we often overlook dozens, even hundreds, of exceptionally interesting buildings with richly decorated portals, window cornices, friezes, rustication, and volute gables. In the decorative niches and on the gables of these buildings are placed sculptures, and their walls are adorned with sgraffito or paintings. Their dimensions are based on human scales, and their purpose is to serve everyday life and please the eye of every passerby. The monumental buildings constructed during this period, which each of us knows and claims as our own – the National Theatre, the Rudolfinum, the National Museum, as well as Palacký Bridge or the Industrial Palace at Prague's Exhibition Grounds – are also adapted to the human scale. We are talking about a time...