Prince Bruncvik

NEAR the south end of the Charles Bridge, ie on the Lesser Town side, is a statue erected in 1884.

It depicts the legendary Prince Bruncvik, who is famed for setting off on an adventure with a magical sword

At one point, so the story goes, he helped a lion defeat a dragon, resulting in the former becoming the prince's faithful companion.

The lion can be seen at the statue's feet

The interesting thing to me is the prince's armour, which seems a mix of medieval and renaissance, but that may say more about the state of my knowledge than about the accuracy of the depiction.

Powder Power

WORK on Prague's imposing Powder Gate began in 1475, and was intended as a grand entrance to the Old Town rather than a practical defensive structure.

Gunpowder made tall fortifications largely redundant, but they still looked good

Originally called New Tower, it was modelled after the 14th century Old Town Bridge Tower.

The building was used to store gunpower in the 1600s, hence its modern name of Powder Gate or Powder Tower.

It was badly damaged in 1757, during Frederick the Great's attempt to capture Prague after conquering Saxony to open the Seven Years War, but was quickly repaired, and received its most recent major restoration last year.

Signing Off

A FINAL set of shouse signs from Prague Old Town.

This stone carving of an elephant dates back to the 1300s, and was placed on an inn - now a hotel - as a symbol of wealth and prestige

The House At The Black Bear - now the Beer Restaurant - was built in 1428 in a merchants' courtyard that had its own high walls and moat to separate it from the rest of the old town

Peacocks are another symbol of wealth, although the building on which this iron peacock spreads its feathers has seen better times, and is now partly a Duck Boutique - a shop selling rubber ducks in various colours and sizes

Hotel Metamorphis was converted from a historic building known as The Blue House, and the sign above the entrance may have had a special religious meaning for a previous owner as the image and wording refer to the seven golden lampstands of Revelation, which symbolised seven early Christian churches, and the woman is probably the Wife of the Lamb, ie the church symbolised as Jesus's bride

Signing On

 MORE signs from Prague Old Town, and the stories behind them.

These bears were originally gilded, and may have referred to the building's use as a tannery (Czech leather makers often used bear skins rather cattle hide), although it was later occupied by an alchemist with connections to Habsburg royalty (bears were an early symbol of alchemy)

No one seems to know the significance of the blue horse - it may have just been a way of identifying the building in days before house numbers became common

The Golden Jug underground hostelry dates back to medieval times, but the name of the next-door Golden Kettle Irish bar is presumably more modern 

These three ducks may indicate the building was also used as a restaurant, but probably was just a house sign symbolising family and nurturing

Signs Of The Times

WALKING around Prague Old Town I have had a lot of fun looking at the district's many house signs from the days of mass illiteracy, and trying to guess what they signify.

This looks as if it should be on a winebar or tavern, but was placed on a housefront in the late 1700s by owners who wanted to highlight the biblical story of Joshua and Caleb bringing a huge bunch of grapes from the Promised Land 

I guessed this golden animal represented a lion, and indeed the house - now a pub-restaurant - previously had a lion as its emblem, but this was changed in 1713 to what is apparently a tiger

Snakes and their venom were associated with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, and this one indicates the building was once a pharmacy

This mermaid is a long way from the sea, but has had plenty of time to contemplate her fate, having been installed in 1439 for reasons no longer known

Lesser Prague

OPPOSITE Prague Old Town on the opposite bank of the Vltava is the Lesser Town, which in modern times has become the embassy district.

Access to the Charles Bridge is through an arched gateway guarded by the Lesser Town Bridge Tower, built in the second half of the 15th century and modelled on the Old Town Bridge Tower.

The Lesser Town Bridge Tower was built partly in response to the district being the site of fierce fighting between Hussites and the castle garrison in 1419

Soviet War Memorial

AM visiting the Czech Republic, and specifically Olomouc, a city that used to be a major centre of the Greater Moravian Empire.

No prizes for guessing which country erected this memorial, nor to which war it refers

As I believe can be seen from the picture, the memorial to the Red Army is still well maintained.

My Toy Bonus

THE February/March 2019 edition of Toy Soldier Collector was waiting for me when I got home on Sunday from a trip to the Czech Republic.

Issue 86 of Toy Soldier Collector

There is the usual big selection of eye-candy but also an above-average number of articles that I found interesting to read including Keith Nairn-Munro on Britain's 17th/21st Lancers, Gary Emery on the Crusades and Robert Welham on early Catholic priests in North America.
I am also pleased to report this issue sees the publication of an article I submitted about an earlier trip to the Czech Republic in which I came across a cheap and cheerful cowboy-and-Indian set.

My colourful page

Toy Lightning Strikes Twice

"NEVER go back" may be good advice for relationships and dimly remembered holidays, but toy-soldier collectors soon realise lightning can easily strike twice in the same place.
So it was with great anticipation that I made a return visit to Olomouc in the Czech Republic, where I bought a fun knights-playset that featured in issue 83 of Toy Solider Collector.
This time, in quite a large toy store in a shopping mall, I found a magnificent Wild West Playset - Cowboys & Indians.

Action-packed, colourful and "more than 40pcs."

The set is made in China and imported into Europe by Johntoy, a Dutch company that boasts it offers "exclusively designed toys with a distinctive style."
You certainly get a varied and colourful selection for your money - 199 Czech crowns, to be precise, which works out at about £7.50 at the time of writing.

Contents laid out on my hotel-room desk

Highlights include a one-piece covered wagon that is completed by clicking a horse into place.
Having a one-horse team looks a little strange, and the driver has no reins, but the wagon seems sturdy, thanks not least to the axles being made of metal.

Wagon roll - the wheels rotate perfectly

There are two mounted cowboys - one firing a rifle and the other twirling a lasso. Both have a six-shooter as a sidearm, and are easily detachable from their mounts, which stand firmly despite having no bases.
Four cowboys on foot are armed with a variety of rifles and pistols, and the cowboy part of the set also includes six pieces of fencing and two identical signposts pointing the way to the somewhat unimaginatively named "Farmerville" and "Pitchfork Way."

Actively posed cowboys

But the cutest part of the set by far for me is a four-piece campfire that can be put together much easier than you might think. You can almost feel the heat being given off by the burning logs!

Clever painting gives a realistic-looking blazing campfire

The Indians, like the cowboys, come with two mounted and four foot figures, one of the latter clearly being a chief. No one could call them Redskins, and that is not just out of political correctness, but because their skin has been painted paler than that of most Palefaces.

Indians are armed with bows or spears

There are two tepees, an impressive totem pole and a nicely crafted canoe with paddle - but no paddler.

You have to paddle your own canoe

Finally, there is a plastic map, two fir trees, two cacti and two straw-coloured objects that I have not been able to identify - maybe miniature hayricks?

The map looks quite good in this photo but it does not really go with the figures

All in all, a great set worth looking out for from a company that distributes across most of Europe.