13 City of Pilsen Travel 5 Newsletter Straight from the Source Pilsen European Capital of Culture 2015 There is no doubt that western Bohemia’s largest city has taken Pilseners also view the art of brewing fine beer, a craft they learned pride in its culture for generations. One place where this is patently from Bavarian brewer Josef Groll, as a very special type of culture. visible is on the homes of Pilsen’s burghers, who had their façades This means that in the early autumn, you can come enjoy three types decorated with ornate stucco and vibrant sgraffito by noted painter of art in Pilsen. The plethora of cultural options available in Pilsen Mikoláš Aleš over one century ago. The Great Synagogue, which was was one reason why the city was chosen to become the European built 120 years ago, represented a masterpiece of period architecture. Capital of Culture in 2015 Pilsen Week Jazz festival lures in Regensburg big names 22–28 Sept 2013 22 Oct – 10 Nov 2013 Pilsen and Regensburg became twin cities twenty Over the past eight years the international Jazz without years ago, and this partnership has primarily flour- Borders festival has earned a respected position on the ished in culture. Pilsen and Regensburg have much European jazz scene. Every day the festival organizers in common: They are equidistant from the Czech-Ger- receive requests from jazz performers around the world man border, have about the same population and to come perform in Pilsen. Which makes absolute sense, are university cities. Regensburg is filled with given that this year’s festival will feature a number of landmarks and is a UNESCO city; in the 19th cen- Grammy winners. Pilsen will host New York Voices as tury Pilsen was the birthplace of world-renowned part of its worldwide tour, jazz/blues/rock trumpet player Pilsner Urquell and Škoda Works. The City of Pilsen Randy Brecker and Dave Liebman, who played with will be in Regensburg’s spotlight at the end of Miles Davis for a number of years. Gustav Brom Big September, with Alfa Theatre’s puppet theatre Band and the B-Side Band led by Vojtěch Dyk will performance of Don Juan, jazz concerts and work- represent some of the best the Czech jazz scene has shops, markets and an exhibition on Pilsen puppet to offer. The festival’s extensive programme includes making all scheduled to take place. concerts and international workshops. www.visitpilsen.eu www.jazzbezhranic.com An entirely new route will be opened that will lead Do you know who Celebrate visitors to the cooper’s shop to learn more about this nearly forgotten craft. This is followed by a visit to the first brewed pilsner’s birthday brewery cellars, where visitors can look forward to a small theatre performance and a sampling of Pilsner pilsner beer? at Pilsner Fest Urquell tapped directly from oak lager barrels. www.prazdrojvisit.cz 5 Oct It was Josef Groll, a brewer from Vilshofen, Bavaria, This year’s popular Pilsner Fest is again scheduled for whom the burghers of Pilsen invited to their new early October to coincide with the day the famous Bürgerbrauerei to try and brew beer that was better Pilsen lager came into being. “Pilsner” was first brewed than the ones that had only brought notoriety to Pilsen. by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll on 5 October 1842. He was chosen even though the brewer had been The festival’s vast programme will occupy two stages. dogged by a bad reputation. It was said that he was an The stage in the lower section will focus on a look ill-tempered, annoying and irritable chap, perhaps even back in history, showing traditional brewing crafts that a bit forgetful, but knew his craft well. So he settled visitors will get to try out – even in period costume if into Pilsen’s new brewery, where he had light malt, they wish. The musical headliner is Čechomor, who good Žatec hops and excellent soft water from Pilsen. will perform with backing from a symphony orchestra. He started to experiment and thanks to a bit of luck A tent representing the brand today will be located in and lots of experience, there was a eureka moment the upper section of the venue. The greatest draw will – a new beer was born. Evil-wishers claim that this be the international finals of the Pilsner Urquell Master happened only because on the day he was supposed Bartender contest. Mandrage, Kryštof, Sunshine, Firkin to brew the first batch of beer in front of the burghers, and the winner of the “Urquell of Talents” contest will he had left his spectacles at home. Without him he was be among the bands to play here. The organisers will unable to read his recipe and even mixed up the process, brew over 250 hectolitres of beer and bake beer dough but to his surprise he created a beer of exceptional pretzels and barley malt bread especially for festival quality. But this is really just slander – Groll was able goers. to brew beer of the same quality every time thereafter. This August marked exactly 200 years since the birth Brewery tours during Pilsner Fest of Josef Groll, the brewer whom Pilsen – and the whole Visitors can look forward to a more varied and extensive world – has much to thank for. tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery during the Pilsner www.pilsen.eu Fest. 13 5 Pilsen Straight from the Source Mikoláš Aleš – the painter who decorated Pilsen In the city centre, Aleš’s sgraffito can be admired on the eastern side of Republic Square. The White Unicorn house is adorned with a pair of sgraffito etchings – a boy and girl gathering herbs. The subject of the etch- You can spot a series of sgraffito etchings on Pilsen crafts if you look up high enough on Solní Street, just a stone’s throw from the square. A scene showing St Wenceslaus and St George with a dragon dominates the façade of the house on Bezručova Street, just below Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre. The largest group of Aleš’s sgraffito featuring Czech historical motifs is located on homes on Nerudova Street, about a fif- teen-minute walk from the centre. Other homes decorated with historical scenes and foliage motifs are located on Kollárova, Tovární, Škroupova and Jagellonská streets. Mikoláš Aleš was a leading Czech painter who was also a celebrated book illustrator. He created a num- ber of sgraffito designs not only in Pilsen, but mainly in Prague and in other Czech cities. The Pilsen series of sgraffito is the second-largest series of sgraffito etchings in the Czech Republic after Prague. Houses decorated with colourful sgraffito based on ing hints to the fact that at the turn of the 19th and designs by Czech painter Mikoláš Aleš are among 20th centuries, the building housed a pharmacy (and Pilsen’s treasured architectural landmarks. From 1892 still does to this day). The Red Heart house shows a till 1904, Aleš created the cartoons for sgraffito etched pair of riders on horseback, recalling the times of onto the façades of nineteen Neo-Renaissance homes jousting matches held right on Republic Square in the designed by Pilsen architect Rudolf Stech. mid-16th century. (Masné krámy exhibition hall on Pražská Street 18) Mikoláš Aleš and focuses on the first homes in Pilsen bearing Aleš’s sgraffito and on the houses on Nerudova Street, Pilsen exhibition while the Museum of West Bohemia (Kopeckého Till 3 November 2013 Sady 2) is showing a rare treasure – the preserved cartoons, or life-size sketches, that Aleš’s co-workers To commemorate the one hundredth anniversary used to transfer the drawings to the house façades. of the death of Mikoláš Aleš (1852-1913), the It was known that Mikoláš Aleš never worked on Museum of West Bohemia has joined with the West the houses himself because he suffered from Bohemian Gallery to organise an exhibition being vertigo. held at both institutions. The West Bohemian Gallery www.zpc-galerie.cz; www.zcm.cz 1990s and is now primarily used for cultural events. Great Synagogue Due to its special acoustics, concerts in the synagogue tend to be an unforgettable experience. – the third largest These days Pilsen’s Jewish community is just a fraction of what it once was. Since 1938 just one Jewish wed- in Europe ding has been held here (in 1999). Tourists may come to look inside the synagogue daily except Saturday till The Great Synagogue on Sady Pětatřicátníků Street is the end of October; from November the synagogue will one of Pilsen’s most dominant landmarks. The Jewish be open only upon advance reservation.. temple, which is now the third-largest synagogue in www.zoplzen.eu Europe, served the community for just 50 years before the local population was decimated in the Holocaust. Construction on the synagogue lasted from 1891 till 1893 and the temple officially opened on 7 September 1893. The building underwent a costly renovation in the Pilsen – European Capital of Culture 2015 www.visitpilsen.eu City of Pilsen Travel Newsletter 5/13 Marketing Department, Municipality of the City of Pilsen, nám. Republiky 1, 306 32 Pilsen, www.visitpilsen.eu, e-mail: [email protected], tel: +420 378 032 500 © All rights reserved. • The current issue and back issues of the newsletter are available at www.pilsen.eu – Multimedia section. Translation: David Fuchs s.r.o. • Photographs: archive of Municipality of Pilsen..