Mikulasska ulice by Jan Minarik - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.269 E 014° 25.151
33U E 458450 N 5548556
Mikulasska ulice // Mikulasska Street and Square of Franz Kafka
Waymark Code: WMTR1K
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 01/01/2017
Views: 27
This place was formerly called Mikulasska Street, Square of Franz Kafka now.
The Square of Franz Kafka is the youngest square in the historic centre of Prague. It rose 2000 out of the part of not wide U Radnice Street, where the native house of Franz Kafka used to stand earlier, as it is reminded by the relevant memorial tablet. U Radnice, Maislova a Kaprová Streets run into this mini-square.
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is perhaps the most published Prague writer abroad at the present. After his school-leaving examination he studied law and then he started to work in an insurance company in 1907, at first in the Prague branch of Italian Assicurazioni Generali and a year later in the Labour accident insurance company for Bohemia, where he was working until his early retirement in 1922 due to expanded tuberculosis. However, his main interest was literature. Objects of the highest attention are his two novels The Trial (Proces) and The Castle (Zámek).
Even in the close surroundings of the Square of Franz Kafka we can find tokens of this famous Prague native. On 6th April 2000 there was unveiled a memorial tablet in the passage of the Kinsky Palace in the Old Town Square, saying: „There used to be a store with haberdashery of Hermann Kafka, father of Franz Kafka.“ On 4th December 2003 his memorial, work by sculptor Jaroslav Rón, was unveiled between the Old Town church of the Holy Ghost and the Spanish Synagogue. The bronze sculpture is 3,75 m high and it weighs 700 kg. The figure is standing with its legs apart and thus it symbolizes two worlds. It is standing with one leg in the previous Jewish Town and in the Old Prague Town with the latter, as the boundary is running just there.
The author of this painting is Jan Minarík. You can find this painting in book 'Starou Prahou Jana Minaríka' (
visit link) .
Jan Bedrich Minarík (December 15, 1862, Prague-Vyšehad - May 26, 1937) (
visit link) , was a Czech painter and graphic artist, pupil J. Marák at the Prague Academy. He became famous as a painter of motifs disappearing part of Prague. His work falls within the years 1907-1911. His paintings captured Josefov district and some parts of the Old Town and New Town. Also captured a number of motifs vanishing areas or individual houses. He also painted on Vysehrad, Mala Strana and Prague Castle.