Description
Book SynopsisA lavishly illustrated guide to Baroque Prague. Lushly illustrated with more than two hundred color plates, including both historical images and contemporary photographs of architectural exteriors,
Baroque Prague is an excursion through Prague from the defeat of Czech Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 to the philosophical era of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Art historian Vít Vlnas explores both the material and spiritual transformations the city went through during this boisterous period, treating the Baroque epoch as a cultural phenomenon vital to the current genius loci of the great Central European capital. He guides readers through both the city itself and equally important Baroque monuments outside of the historical city center. A highly readable introductory study, as well as a work for experienced scholars of the history of Bohemia,
Baroque Prague is an exciting homage to Europe’s great “city of a hundred spires,” and shows how a place’s storied past informs its present soul.
Trade Review“Unquestionably, a concise, refined, and exceptionally readable introductory study that—with its well-selected catalog of architectural and artistic monuments—not only illuminates the historical and philosophical background of Prague’s baroque but also serves as a reliable guide to the sites of a city that owes much of its development to this remarkable age.” -- Lubomír Slavícek, head of the Centre for Visual Studies, Masaryk University
