Wow!!

I love this door. I LOVE this door...and not just because it is big and complicated. In my opinion, this is a fabulous door because ALL the elements work together. First, there is the lady high above, who holds the children under her arms and looks out over the land in such a way that you feel that she is there for you - for everyone. There is the coat of arms style presentation of a honeybee in the pediment - symbolically, honeybees have an extremely rich cross-cultural importance including, but not limited to, their representation of eloquence, poetry and intelligence. Another highly symbolic element is also present - cornucopia overflowing with fruit - which, over time, has come to mean liberty, gratitude and good fortune. The puti, or angels floating gracefully above the door are also very symbolic elements - they function as, among other things, messengers, guardians, conductors of the stars and upholders of laws. The symbolism surrounding this door does not stop there... even the columns have a strong symbolic value - including their physical and/or visual assurance of the strength of a structure either in the physical sense or in the social or personal sense.

Now, onto the non-symbolic elements of this door...isn't the wrought-iron work fabulous? It is so incredibly intricate that it takes my breath away! And look closely at the door, whose colour is like chestnut-flower honey (ah! honeybees!!), the handles are simple but inviting and the metal plates that act as kick plates across the bottom of the door are not just simple strips of copper, but are cut out in an interesting pattern.

I love this door!!

Shopping Door

This wonderful and ever-so-grand door and arch combination is located on one of Prague's most popular shopping streets. Despite the richness of this door and it's arch, it is not the entrance to a Dior or Cartier or Hermes boutique (though it certainly could be). There is, however, a clothing store behind this door. The store's interior has a richness to it that matches the door/arch though in my humble opinion, it is too much for the brand of clothing being sold in the store. Never mind all that, I can settle for just stopping once in a while in front of the store to admire the door's size, strength, the details of the elements of the arch (and balcony above it) and the wrought-iron door itself.

If you look closer at the figures in the arch, maybe you might find it interesting how the two men holding up the balcony (don't have a headache...haha, just kidding!) look so muscle-y and virile, however their faces look as if they belong to a body that is much older...hmmm...I guess even stone ages!! Those poor long-suffering men are also magnets to nesting pigeons!! (Pigeons with good taste may I add!) Don't worry, I'm just thinking out loud...I don't mean to take away from this door's value by any means!! This door certainly merits admiration and I am happy to have the chance to admire it often. This picture of the door/arch does it no justice because you can't get a proper idea as to its size - Huge! When taking this picture, it helped that the street in front of this store/door is very wide and that I was there early in the morning which all allowed me to get the distance I needed for a straight-on, unencumbered shot without any people in the picture!!

There are many doors in Prague that deserve being sought out and admired in person - I would definitely recommend seeking out this one and admiring it with your own eyes...it is a truly fabulous door.

Back from the Whiteout!!

A 'whiteout'? In Spring? Well, not a real whiteout as in a snowstorm, but another sort of whiteout. We had several rooms in our house painted (white) during the last couple of days and, of course, it meant a lot of moving stuff around, covering things, taking things apart, hiding things, etc., so TheDoorHunter was forced into a temporary 'whiteout' ('blackout' sounds too drastic!!). Sorry about that!!

Today's door is another 'back door' to Obecni Dum. On 20 April 2010, in the post called 'Simply Golden' I posted a service door to this building. Though today's door is very different from the door posted in April, it does repeat the art nouveau theme and feel to it. I'm not exactly sure what this entrance is used for, but I have the impression it is the entrance for the artists as this building, which contains not only several restaurants and exhibits rooms, also has a fabulous concert hall and several large ballrooms (which include incredible murals by Mucha and other painters). This building is an absolute 'must-see' when in Prague and is called, in English, the Municipal House. I strongly recommend visiting as much of it as possible as you will not be disappointed!!

You might recognise the 'P' on the top of this handle...it is also in the arch of the door posted in April!! This 'P' is very unique...even if you only see it one time you will recognise it every time after! I'm not sure what the 'P' stands for in the context of this building, but for me it means 'Prague'!!

For more information visit: http://www.obecnidum.cz/web/en/homepage

I love the door. I love the frame. And I love the two together!

It's pretty clear why I love the door and frame - it's Art Nouveau!!

But even if this wasn't Art Nouveau, I would still like it. Definitely!

Collegium Clericorum Regularium Scholarum Piarum

This building, according to the sign over the door, was erected in 1766. Though it once housed a Catholic Piarist school, it very likely now only houses offices.

The very impressive and massive portal clearly gives you an idea of what the building was created for...look closely at the three statues (click on the picture for an enlargement of it)...it is all described right there...reading, writing and arithmetic AND religion!!

A Jewel

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, you have surely already come to the conclusion that there are a lot of interesting doors in Prague and that the supply seems to be endless. I could put only the creme-de-la creme doors on here each day, but then that would leave you without all the other doors that, while maybe less glamorous, are nevertheless interesting and beautiful doors that deserve being noticed, appreciated and even loved.

All week you have seen honorable and worthy doors, so I thought that today you deserve to see a little jewel (in my opinion!)...it is definitely very nice - not THE top of the top, but certainly lovely and inviting. So much so that it makes my heart go pitter-patter (yes, call me strange, but a pretty door makes my heart leap a bit!). I like all the elements of this door: its columns that are completely different from each other; the oval window under the delicate garlands; the terrace that protects the frame and the door; the various faces that watch over the door; the colour of the wood; the movement of the carved wood; the romantic simplicity of the overall design; and finally, the door's accessories.

As a little cherry on top, if you look at the photo of the close-up of the window you will see a pretty reflection of part of another beautiful door located just across the street (I will post that door some other time)...just please don't mind the reflection of the car!!

The Healing Door?

I'm going to tell you a secret about me: I have a special place in my heart for all things Belle Epoque/Art Nouveau. So, when I came upon this door I just HAD to stop and admire it. I think this is a really nice door, but as you can imagine, I especially like the door's frame.

As you can see, two cherubs flank the letters HV, but I'm not sure what the H and V stand for. The HV surrounds the universal symbol for the practice of medicine making me want to believe that maybe a hospital was here, but in Czech, hospital is 'nemocnice' so this doesn't explain the H. My next guess would be that maybe a well-known doctor lived here or had his practice in this building. I would guess something like this because when you look at the door, you can see that it is clearly not the kind of door that would withstand the frequent use that an early 20th century hospital door would have to endure.

If you look close, you can see the architect's initials and the date 1903 which is when the building was built. The larger numbers in gold on each side of the door refer to the address of the building. It used to be that a building had a number according to its cadastral registry entry, which might not make any sense when looking for a building as it could be surrounded by number completely different and not in any particular order. It seems that later, more recently, the city decided to give the buildings some kind of comprehensible address numbers so the '12', which has the word 'nove', meaning 'new', below it whereas the old (or 'stare') address was 1986. (NOTE: When I originally posted this door, I thought these numbers had to do with the date of construction and reconstruction of the building, however, since then I have learned that these numbers, in fact, have to do with the physical numbering of the building.)

The only unfortunate thing about this door is that somewhere along the way, some fool allowed for the lower left part of the frame to be cut into so that the electricity box could be installed (the brown panel on the left). What a shame!

Big, Dark and Mysterious

This is not an extraordinary door, but for some odd reason, it has charmed me. I especially like the frame even if (or maybe because) it is rather simple. This clearly a hard-working door has suffered much use and abuse yet has remained like an old barnyard dog that is determined to keep outsiders from going any farther.

Wait though...look carefully at the the ground below the doors...there are what appear to be a narrow set of rails leading from the street into the courtyard...hmmm, what went on here? What goes on here now? Mystery!! And check out the scary face above the door!? OOoooo!!