Half a century of the Prague Castle photography exhibition

The exhibition and book trilogy Prague Castle in Photography is concluded by a part showing changes of the siege in years 1939-1989.

Historic and topographic signs have the upper hand over the whole conception of this exhibition. The photos are not sequenced according to beauty, but the groups are formed according to the inner logic of the castle area. The only exception is the ‘personalities’ group, which brings in portraits of politicians and architects of the famous Gothic castle.

As the past two episodes of the cycle could be called romantic or calm, this episode commemorates especially the dark times, for example it depicts Emil Hacha, the Czechoslovak president, surrounded by Nazi soldiers, getting his new BMW given by Adolph Hitler.

The book ends symbolically; by the classic picture of Vaclav Havel on 29th November 1989, after being elected a president. But this is not the case of all’s well that ends well; Prague castle is too much permeated by history for such a conclusion.

7th January (Three wise man day) 2008 ends this exhibition, but the book trilogy accompanying the event stays for those who bought it, and gains its documentary value. The exhibition takes place in Prague Castle, Terezianske Kridlo (Terezian Wing).