Reformation anyone (June 24)

And so I felt more rested on Thursday, though I could still tell I was not fully recouped yet.


I went to my A+A class, and we took an excursion to Old Town Square - as we were learning about the Gothic era ... specifically:

• High Gothic (1310-1420): for this we visited Tyn Church and viewed/discussed the Passion Tympanum 
• Late Gothic  (1420-1526): for which we visited Bethlehem Chapel, and discussed its role as the birth of the reformation of the Roman Catholic church

I was not able to take pics at Tyn Church, but learned how at this time codices (illuminated manuscripts) were being created as meditation tools ... and how religion was now moving down from the royalty/aristocracy and into the towns directly.

From Tyn, we went to the Bethlehem Chapel. This place was important, for several reasons:

1. It was the first church built for preaching (which requires a different layout than the ones previously built for mass and housing altars for praying)
2. It was where Jan Hus lived and preached after he had been excommunicated by Pope Alexander V, for "ecclesiastical disturbances" based on the writings on English theologian John Whycliffe
1. Jan Hus is responsible for starting church reformation, over 100 years before Luther's well-known movement of the 1500's
3. The sermons given there were solely in Czech vernacular, thus breaking with German domination of Medieval Bohemian Churches

I was able to take some pics! Check them out ...

So, the key of the chapel being a preaching chapel is that it is square ... and open, so that all the people can hear what Jan Hus was saying from the raised balcony - shown in this pic

This is the back of the chapel. Sorry for the poor quality, the lighting was not good - and the flash did not help either.

A cool map of Praha, either 17th or 18th century - from upstairs in Jan Hus' living area.

An 1883 painting of Jan Hus before the High Court for accusations of heresy. He was asked to recant, and refused - citing that nothing he preached was not in the bible itself; he was burned at the stake shortly thereafter. Interestingly enough, two days from now is Jan Hus Day (July 6) - which is a national holiday in Czech ... so no school for me, which is partly why I am in Budapest!!!  

This is also in Jan Hus' living area, upstairs at the Bethlehem Chapel - it translates to "Here Lived Champion Jan Hus"

And that was it for our A+A class ...

I stayed behind and chatted longer with teacher Chris, and we walked out together. He was asking about my time here and somehow, not really sure how, the subject of hummus came up. He promptly announced that there was a great little Turkish food store near his house ... and since I was not familiar with the area, he offered to walk me there.

He is a super nice guy!

It was a REALLY cool place! Firah Foods it is called, and it small and exotic ... with large open bins of vividly colorful spices, and strange (to me) and interesting foods. And as promised, there was many brands of hummus ... canned though, which I have not seen before but was told about by my momma.

Yeah for Chris and Turkish Czech's and hummus!!

;-}

As I walked home, I came across a few interesting things ...

This is a building I came upon, with three very interesting statues on its roof ... this one seems to have a beer mug in her hand.

I can't quite tell WHAT the 2nd statue is supposed to be carrying, the only thing that comes to mind with that shape is a snowboard. Yea, I know how crazy that sounds!!

And so the third is holding, um - yup, that is a shotgun.

So, let's see then ... we've got a building with three naked women on its roof, with light fixtures as head - one with beer, one with a snowboard, and one with a gun. Hmmmm ... so we've got someone who likes to drink, play in the snow, and hunt. O-k-a-y then.

The last image is from an art gallery that I walked past - I thought these two images in their window were really cool.

And so if you look really close, you can see me in the window as well ... on the left side of the skulls teeth. Very interesting!

And so my day ended early, and I went home and had another night of bed, food and rest.

Thanks for reading!

Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Bethlehem ... in Prague!