Prague Full of Ghosts

Prague Full of Ghosts
Text: Miroslav Svandrlik
Drawings: Jiri Winter - NEPRAKTA
Photographs: Josef Molin

Old Prague has one record. Statistically expressed, it lies in the number of ghosts relating to one square kilometre. Every medieval castle or palace worth the name in Europe has its ghost wandering round its corridors at night, but Prague has scores of such buildings. Many of its ghosts are not limited to the interiors of these centruries' old buildings, but steal stealthily round the city's courtyards, passageways and narrow streets - for example, the ghost of a French major has to march at a rapid pace in order to cover his whole area at midnight.

The citizens of Prague hold their ghosts in great esteem. They even erected an above-lifesize statue of one of them. This is the iron man on the corner of the building of the New Town Hall. Lying at his feet is a naked girl who nearly freed him from the spell he was under three hundred years ago. I think this is also unique, because I know of no other memorial commerating a ghost.

Our book will acquaint you with some of Prague's important and interesting ghosts. We have omitted shapeless spectres wandering in the mist along the embarkments of theRiver Vltava similarly as we have left our spirits in rattling chains and dinmakers stamping and banging doors, i.e., merely acoustic phenomena which, being invisible, naturally cannot be portraited.

Most of the ghosts willingly and without comments approved their portraits and Svandrliks texts and gave their consent to the publication of Josef Molin's photographs showing the places or houses where it is possible to come across them and allow yourself to be terrified by them.

Brave readers can really use this book as a guide for a walk through Prague. But do not try to free these apparitions from their fate. If you did, you would rid the city of many tourist attraction.

On behalf of the authors I should thank all Prague's ghosts for their understanding and cooperation!

-NEPRAKTA

1. painos, 1993
Sidottu, kuvakansi.

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