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Mystery in stone: the New Town Hall palindrome
Two sentences in Latin are the same backwards and forwards If you look closely at the side of the tower of the New Town Hall next to Prague’s Karlovo náměstí, you will…
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Sepulchral imagery in The Bohemian Gothic Tarot
Motifs from Prague cemeteries adorn several cards in The Bohemian Gothic Tarot.
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The Rudolfine Tunnel, a technical marvel from a strange time
A 400-year-old engineering feat runs beneath Prague’s Letná district. Emperor Rudolf II is mostly remembered for his pursuit of esoteric arts like alchemy and astrology, or his vast collections of curiosities including…
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The Black Death is commemorated by Prague’s fascinating plague columns
A lot of squares have Baroque columns in the center. Many were to give thanks for the end of a recent outbreak of Black Death
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Follow Nosferatu on a scary excursion to Czech ruins
All three versions of Nosferatu used gothic locations in Czechia or Czechoslovakia. . The classic of Gothic cinema started as an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s seminal vampire novel Dracula.
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Carmilla: the undying allure of the first lesbian vampire story
The original goth girl has inspired a whole genre of fiction. The second most popular vampire tale no doubt is Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, published in 1872. This story of a…
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Halloween step aside: Dušičky rules in Bohemia
In most of Central Europe, All Souls’ Day is a family affair. For much of the English-speaking world, October is spooky season, with ghost and cobweb decorations already going up. It culminates…
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Our map uncovers secrets of The Tarot of Prague
The Tarot of Prague, Baba Studio's first deck, has caught on with tourists. They have gone looking to uncover the deck's secrets by seeking the places used to create the images.
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The unlucky black cat of the Křížalova Street inn
A murder plan during the plague had consequences for an evil servant in a tale involving a black cat. Prague’s menagerie of supernatural critters of course includes a black cat. The tale…
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Terror of a bald ghost haunting Wig Maker’s Hill
A wildly unlikely ghost tale attempts to explain the odd name of a local park. A hill overlooking Prague’s largest cemetery, Olšanské hřbitovy, has an undeservedly shady reputation but is now home to…
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Jan Mikolášek: the herbal healer showcased in the film Charlatan
A folk-medicine expert with an alleged gift treated over 5 million people, including many celebrities but critics call him a charlatan. The new Czech-Irish-Polish-Slovak biopic Charlatan (Šarlatán) takes a look at the…
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The mysterious White Lady of the Záběhlice Chateau
A ghost called a white lady at what was a rural castle near a vineyard never revealed her secrets. Parts of what is now Prague used to be villages separated by dusty…
