Vyšehrad

My friends and I made the journey to Vyšehrad one Sunday, after hearing about the graveyard where many of the Czech Republic’s greats were buried, namely Čapek and Mucha, because we have read Čapek’s War with the Newts, and have had to the opportunity to see Mucha’s artwork in the Mucha Museum. While we originally made our daytrip for the graveyard, that was not all we encountered once in Vyšehrad. Once we walked past the more corporate façade just outside of the metro station, we found a neighborhood, a park, a small town, and the Vyšehrad castle wall.

From the castle wall we had an exceptional view of Prague and the Vltava River. It was easy to imagine how many legends cite Vyšehrad as the first settlement that would later become Prague. Despite these legends, however, there has been little to no concrete evidence to support the idea. While the castle at Vyšehrad was a royal home at one point, it was abandoned for the Prague castle by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. However, the castle at Vyšehrad was not to deteriorate in the displacement of it as a royal headquarters. Instead, Charles IV decided to renew the castle, with new gates and a palace.  

The remodeling of the Vyšehrad castle was, like most remodeling, due to the wake of destruction left by various conflicts over the years. During the Hussite Wars, Vyšehrad was not only conquered, but also plundered by the Hussites, and fell into ruin in the aftermath. After the Thirty Years War, however, when the Hapsburgs came into power in the Czech lands, the area was remodeled as a fortress of the Baroque style, and this style is what we see today.  

The Baroque remodeling of Vyšehrad has turned it into a “fortified residence,” complete with ramparts, bastions, and surrounding housing. Ideal for outdoor walking and overlooking Prague, Vyšehrad has a lot of small town charm to be nestled in the city. Due to its public park, it has in recent years become a perfect location for recreation and festivities. We even saw a concert stage being set up on our visit. We also encountered many families walking their Yorkshire terriers along the castle wall, many small food vendors, and lots of green space, and of course, the famous, almost aerial, view of Prague.

While my friend M. was most enchanted with the castle wall, my other friend E. preferred the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul. The lovely, spiraling Gothic church was yet another church that caused us to take a moment, sit back, and admire. Because it was a Sunday, a Catholic mass was going on, and we were able to see families pouring out of the basilica and walking to lunch. I sat on the curb in front of the church for a while, watching people mill about and talk to one another, when I looked up to find what would be my favorite part of Vyšehrad—the cemetery.

I am not normally one to enjoy a walk through a cemetery, but I have now resigned myself to the fact that this is because most of the cemeteries back home are simply unpleasant to look at. There are no headstones—only fake flowers and occasionally fake grass. Vyšehrad cemetery, however, was beautiful. The design of the headstones, the flower arrangements, and the sheer age and marvelous beauty that does not seem to be replicable in the modern age is what really pulled me in, as I wandered down each of the paths between the graves. The reason we had visited Vyšehrad in the first place for the cemetery, so I had it in mind to locate, and photograph, Čapek’s grave (bottom left).

After much searching, and encountering a surprising amount of deceased Anna’s, I found it. While it was less grandiose than I had pictured, I thought it did him justice. The cemetery as a whole, particularly because it contains so many Czech greats, caused me to think about how one becomes great, and what is actually achievable in a single lifetime. I do not necessarily have an answer to this question, but wondering about it was fun and oddly inspiring, as well as life affirming. I am proud of the Czechs for recognizing great writers and artists for their great achievements, because I truly believe that imagination does have the power to create a better future.

In a place surrounded by so much history, I was afraid I might feel a bit lost amongst the small yet terrifying infinity of human existence, but I didn’t. I felt glad to be a part of it all, and I felt, all the more strongly, the importance in making your own history through putting the time and effort into what you love. After hanging out in the cemetery for a while, my mildly existential thought loop came to a halt, and we decided to take pictures of ourselves sitting the castle wall, and then descend to the more central part of Prague, looking back up at where we had just stood.

Every time I see the spires Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, I now think of Vyšehrad and its history, but now I also have my own memories and personal narrative layered over it, and that makes everything in Vyšehrad, and Prague in general, all the more significant and meaningful to me.