Vyšehrad, part 1

~On the last day before my departure from Prague, I toured Vyšehrad (pr: "Vii-zhuh-raad"), a district in the south of the city named after a castle that once dominated the area almost a thousand years ago, before being abandoned and falling into disrepair.

^ Upon emerging from the subway station into the district, I found myself near this long bridge that stretches across a valley filled with houses. I was told that Prague once had a problem with suicidal people jumping off of the bridge, until some bright person installed a high fence along the walkways. As a result, the bridge (officially Nuselský Bridge) has been dubbed "Suicide Bridge" by the inhabitants of the city.

^ The bridge from another direction. As you can see, it stretches right across the valley, over apartments and businesses. I'd hate to live right under it...it must get noisy (especially considering that a subway line is built into the bridge, accounting for its thickness).

And of course, the falling bodies must have been irritating.

^ The "Great Wall of Prague" is part of the original walls that guarded the city (remember, building the city walls improvement automatically triples a defending unit's defense, but doesn't provide the bonus against air strikes, artillery, or nukes).

^ St. Martin's Rotunda, which dates back to the 11th century. During recent archaeological research on this building, a previously unknown secret underground floor was discovered beneath the rotunda.

^ One of the major tourist attractions of the Vyšehrad area is its famous cemetery, which holds the remains of many famous former citizens of Prague. It's filled with elaborate tombstones, statues, and strange monuments.

^ A colorful mosaic decorates this tomb.

^ This bronze book sculpture decorates the grave of Karel Capek, a Czech playwright who popularized the term "robot" his 1920 play, RUR: Rossum's Universal Robots.

^ This disturbingly elongated & thin female statue decorates another grave. It's like some kind of anorexic nightmare.

^ I noticed that many of the tombstones used the unusual notation you see above. At first, I thought that this was the grave of a famous mathematician who was obsessed with fractions, until I worked out that the numerator portion of each "fraction" is the day of the month, while the denominator indicates the month of the year.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and they really are fractions.

^ This impressive tomb is known as the Pantheon, or Slavin. Designed in 1894, it's a monument to the nation's greatest heroes. The writing above the names, "Ac Zemreli - Ieste Mluvi", translates to, "Though dead, they still speak."

^ Yet another massive Gothic cathedral, this is the "Capitular Church of Saints Peter and Paul." The people I was with toured the inside after paying a small fee, but by this point in my trip, I was thoroughly sick of churches, so I relaxed outside.

^ Still, I couldn't help but notice several interesting features of the church. Czech out the front doors, which have the lion symbol of Prague and a black bird or dragon that I don't recognize.

^ Over the door is another impressive frieze. Carving something like this must take years.

^ Over the two smaller doors beside the main church entrance were colorful mosaics. The above image is the mosaic to the left of the main doors.

^ The mosaic over the door to the right of the main entrance. Note the similarity to the previous image, but with subtle differences.

Finally, here's a panoramic view of the valley, bridge, and city wall. Remember to click on it for a closer look:

Next: Czech Intelligence & the Secret Statues of Charles Bridge.