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Tuesday 18Th International Shiseikan Budo Association – 8 Paynesfield Av. London SW14 8DW, UK – tel.: +44(0)2088761697 – www.isbaweb.org AIKIDO KENKUYKAI PRAHA INTERNATIONAL SHISEIKAN BUDO ASSOCIATION SEMINAR Praha 2015 – Czech Republic Tuesday 18 th August Saint Wenceslas (Svatý Václav) St. Wenceslas I. (Václav) – one of the rulers of Premysl (Přemyslovská) dynasty. Czech Duke and saint, patron of Bohemia and Moravia and symbol of Czech statehood. He lived and reigned over Bohemia in 10th century, murdered by his own brother Boleslav I., called Boleslav the Cruel in about 935 A.D. Prince Wenceslas was son of Borivoj I. (Bořivoj) of Bohemia, who was purportedly converted by Saints Cyril and Methodius. His mother Drahomira (Drahomíra) was a daughter of a pagan tribal chief of Havolans, she was converted at the time of her marriage. Wenceslas but grew up strongly influenced by his grandmother, Saint Ludmila, who raised him, after the death of his father, as a Christian, since he was 13 years old. The big influence of the Grandmother on young duke have been the reason for another murder in the Premysl dynasty. Ludmila was strangled at her castle Tetin (Tětín) in 921 A.D. on the order of her daughter-in-law Drahomira. Young Wenceslas assumed the government for himself in 924 or 925 and Drahomira was exiled. As a duke he attained, despite the defeat by Saxon King Henry the Fowler, sovereignty of the Czech state. In many historical scripts he is usually described as exceptionally pious and humble, and a very educated and intelligent young man. He founded a rotunda consecrated to St. Vitus (Vít), later Cathedral of St´s. Vitus, the main temple of the land. He was murdered a Stara Boleslav (Stará Boleslav), residence of his younger brother Boleslav I., that took his office. Immediately after his death he was considered a martyr and a saint for his piety (He himself grew wine and corn for Holy Communion, he cared for the poor, slaves and prisoners, he built up churches, felled gallows, etc.) and posthumous miracles. His cult grew up very strongly in Bohemia and England. During his lifetime he was a duke, but Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. post´humously "conferred on him the regal dignity and title”. Later he became a symbol of the Czech state. His name became a part of some Christmas Carrols as “good king Wenceslas”. Saint Wenceslas is buried in Cathedral of St´s. Vitus. The equestrian statue of St. Wenceslas is located in the upper part of Wenceslas square. It is surrounded by the figures of others Czech saints, St. Ludmila, St. Prokop, St. Vojtech (Vojtěch) and St. Agnes (Anežka). Author of the whole sculpture is Josef Vaclav Myslbek founder of Czech modern sculpture from the turn of 19th – 20th century. He was working on this sculpture more than 30 years. The sculpture is not only the symbol of Czech statehood, but as well an imperative lifted finger pointing at the necessity of maintaining the basic cultural and spiritual values of Czech nation.. The hymn to St. Wenceslas ( Svatý Václave) or "Saint Wenceslas Chorale" is one of the oldest known Czech songs in history. This chorale, in the modern version, you will hear at the end of Farewell Party on the boat. … detailed information see Wikipedia – Wenceslas I. Duke of Bohemia ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________ Aikido Kenkyukai Praha, TJ Sokol Žižkov II, Na Balkán ě 812, 130 00 Praha 3, tel.: +420 603 221 694 www.aikikai.cz, mail: [email protected] Wenceslas square The place was identified as a component of the project of New city of Prague, founded by the decree of Emperor Charles IV. in 1348. It was intended as one of the two main Market Squares, originally named Horse Market (Koňský trh). Wenceslas square is forming natural centrum of the New City of Prague, which is popular between his residents as the most frequent meeting point for people, both as purely private (informally they have a meeting under the horse-tail) and those, which are intended as mass manifestations of all kinds. It witnessed many significant historical events. It is a traditional place for demonstrations, celebrations and other mass meetings, as for example from not so far history, it happened here during Prague Spring in 60th and during the Soviet occupation in 1968 – 1969. Near the sculpture of Saint Wenceslas, a young student Jan Palach burned himself in 1969 as a protest against the invasion of "brotherly" states. As well just here, hundreds of thousands people were demonstrating and quietly ringing with their keys “end of communism” during so called “Velvet revolution” in 1989 – 1990. … detailed information see Wikipedia – Wenceslas square Memorial of Jan Palach and Jan Zajic Jan Palach was born in Prague in 1948. He was student of history and political economy at Charles University. In autumn 1968 he participated on many protest actions against occupation, including the students strike. Because he has not seen any significant progress he started to consider more radical action, that would wake up the Czech population from the resignation, that grew more and more with the time running. He started to study the method of self-immolation practiced by Vietnamese monks. On 16 th January 1969 in the upper part of Wenceslas square, he poured himself with flammable liquid and became inflamed. Inflamed he was running down the square. Some people tried to help him. He was brought to the special Clinic of burns in Prague, where he died 3 days after. According to Jaroslava Moserova, a burns specialist who was the first to provide care to Palach, he did not set himself on fire to protest against the Soviet occupation, but did so to protest against the "demoralization" of Czechoslovak citizens caused by the occupation. The funeral of Jan Palach turned into a major protest against the ongoing occupation, and a month later (on 25 th February 1969) another student , Jan Zajic, burned himself to death in the same place, followed in April of the same year by Eugen Plocek (Evžen) in city Jihlava. Jan Palach was initially interred in Cemetery of Olsany ( Olšany) . As his gravesite was growing into a national shrine, the Czechoslovak secret police (StB) set out to destroy any memory of his deed and exhumed secretly his remains on the night of 25th October 1973. His body was then cremated and sent to his mother in Palach's native town Vsetaty (Všetaty) while an anonymous old woman from a rest home was laid in the grave. The family of Jan Palach was not allowed to deposit the urn officially in the local cemetery until 1974. His urn returned back to Prague in Olsany in 1990. After the Velvet Revolution, Palach (along with Zajíc) was commemorated in Prague by a bronze cross embedded at the spot where he fell outside the National Museum, as well as a square named in his honor. There, on the building of Charles University, you can find memorial plaque with Jan Palach's death mask taken by Olbram Zoubek, also author of Memorial to the victims of communism. We shall start our sightseeing tour of Prague on Friday in front of this memorial. … detailed information see Wikipedia – Jan Palach ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________ Aikido Kenkyukai Praha, TJ Sokol Žižkov II, Na Balkán ě 812, 130 00 Praha 3, tel.: +420 603 221 694 www.aikikai.cz, mail: [email protected] Saint Wenceslas sitting on the belly of his dead horse David Cerny (David Černý) – sculptor, born in 1967, is a Czech artist who is known primarily as a creator of different controversial and provocative sculptures. His works can be seen in many locations in Prague. According to his words: "Grotesque exaggeration and mystification belongs to the symbols of Czech contemporary culture...” For the first time he became publicly noticed in 1991 by painting a Soviet tank, which served as war memorial in the central Prague, pink. This happened during the night, because the monument was still considered a national cultural monument, this was taken as an act of hooliganism and he was briefly arrested. Since it was in the time of the war in South Ossetija, Cerny considered it as his reaction on Soviet foreign policy. Another sculpture as reaction on actual political situation was his Quo Vadis? sculpture of Trabant (plastic cars produced in East Germany) on legs, symbolizing the mass exodus of East Germans through West Germany Embassy in Prague in 1989. The copy in bronze cast is located in the garden of German Embassy in Prague. Very popular are his Babies, black laminate sculptures, that are decorating big transmitter at Zizkov (Žižkov) . He also created very controversial sculpture Entropa, which caused many protests of different European politicians in 2009. Each state of EU was represented by a stereo-type that European citizens have about single states in Europe. Among his known works belongs the prankish statue Horse from 1999 that we shall see, representing Saint Wenceslas sitting on the belly of his dead horse. According to the agreement with the owner of Lucerna Palace (Mme. Dagmar Havlova, sister-in-law of Vaclav Havel), where the statue is hanging, it should stay there until in the Czech Lands will not be restored the Constitutional monarchy. This is a typical example of well-known Czech humor. … detailed information see Wikipedia – David Cerny The Brewery Marina & Beer in Czech lands Czech PIVO has a long history, that begun with brewing taking place in Brevnov (Břevnov) Monastery (not very far from Prague´s castle) in 993 A.D. Beer was made in the Czech lands, historically Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, even before the Slavic migration in the 6 th century, although the ingredients used often differed from what we are using today.
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