European Humanities
Objectives
- To understand the history of these cities, i.e., to help you see how these cities “remember” history (or “forget“ history).
- Enable you to understand how the identity of these cities has been represented in the arts: literature, architecture, visual art, movies, music, etc.
- To see how this history (or perhaps a forgetfulness of history as well) shapes their current “identities“.
Previous Activities Have Included
- Lecture and Discussion with David Cerny
- Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, discussion with Milan Knizek, Director and Fluxus Artist
- Kafka Museum, Mucha Museum, Cubism Museum
- The Prague Symphony Orchestra
- Lidice Memorial Museum and Gallery
- Egon Schiele Art Centrum
Description
This tour leads students through Prague, the heart of Bohemia, and Cesky Krumlov, a tiny city in the Sudetenland region that once was home to both German and Czech speakers.
Prague still looks like a mediaeval city, it’s still Bohemia and it’s still at the heart of Europe. And it’s still trying to forget its half century as a part of “Eastern” Europe. If you know where to look, you will see manifestations of tension: signs of Czech national identity (defined against the Germanic national identity and perhaps Jewish identity, that was until very recently a part of Bohemian life). And you might see an attempt not to see the last 50 years (Eastern bloc political identity).
Cesky Krumlov is a feudal mountain city in the former Sudetenland, complete with gothic church and mediæval castle. It seems as if one has entered another country – and that’s not far from truth. It’s easy to see that this former German-speaking city has a different history than the rest of central Bohemia. A haunting history, perhaps.
