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| Bullet holes and reflections in Czech architecture |
Prague is known for its vast array of architecture. It's one of the only cities in Europe that has modern buildings right next door to facades built in the 1300s. We got to see loads of this in our painfully long, yet relatively informative walking tour. This particular building was a spot taken over by Communism. The bullet holes still remain, leaving it pretty lifeless and dilapidated. It's interesting that so many buildings here have not been restored or even touched after the various wars. Many factories stand abandoned, and many areas in town look completely rundown. I'm not sure if it's just a Czech mindset of relative laziness, or a blatant statement of disregard for the institutions that used to run the country. Czechs are pretty sensitive about the whole communism thing, not to mention the whole eastern/western europe thing. It was news to me as well, mainly because of my ignorance, that the Czech Republic is a Western country.
Anyways, I snapped this photo because I liked the reflections in the modern building, and the bullet holes. Something about glass that's been blown out and cement that's been stripped is really visually appealing to me. It's the "grunge" look of architecture, in my opinion. I'm not sure what operations, if any, currently happen at this particular building, but nonetheless, it remains upright. It stands tall as a visual reminder of all the turmoil that the Czechs went through over the last 100 years, it's not Czech fashion, but you'd think they would have destroyed all reminders by now.
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