Jakubska ulice by Vaclav Jansa - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.299 E 014° 25.557
33U E 458934 N 5548607
Jakubska ulice // Jakubska Street
Waymark Code: WMTXXM
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 01/21/2017
Views: 34
Jakubská Street connects the streets Malá Štupartská and Rybná and belongs to one of the oldest streets in Prague. It measures about 100 meters and its name is derived from the nearby Church of St James.
It also used to be called By St James or Behind St James. At the beginning of the 20th century there used to be a garden called Kopmanka with a one storey pub. Today there are classicist art nouveau buildings with a bar in the basement and shops, which were built in the years 1913-1916. A Prague pedestrian who would walk the street in the past on 5th March on the St Filip could witness the ancient custom of dropping a goat from the tower.
The Old Town butchers would bring a goat to the church, dragged him to the tower and dropped down into the Jakubská Street. Then the goat was roasted and eaten on the spot. This tradition was established to commemorate St James, who was also toppled from the Jerusalem temple.
A comment on site...
on the right you can see the wall and tower of Church of St James and in the background a tower of the Church of Our Lady before Týn (Chrám Matky Boží pred Týnem).
The author of this painting is Václav Jansa. You can find this painting in book 'Starou Prahou Václava Jansy' (
visit link) .
Vaclav Jansa (October 22, 1859 Slatinice - June 29, 1913 Cernošice) (
visit link) Czech landscape artist and illustrator, best known for these views, originally painted in water-colour.
Jansa was apprenticed to buyers, but later he devoted himself to his hobby of drawing and painting. Vaclav Jansa traveled a lot and took to painting landscapes. He painted mostly southern Bohemia and Giant Mountains. Since 1893 was redeveloped historic districts of Prague, Prague ghetto and parts of the Old and New Town. In this time Jansa painted cca 150 colored watercolors documenting disappearing part of the city.