Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/502
Two Memorial Years in Czecho-Slovakia.
(Courtesy of American Crayon Co.)
“Tyn” Church in Prague, One of the Most Beautiful Gothic Churches in Europe.
Prague will be, during this and next year, the center of numerous celebrations, and expects many visitors. The city itself holds many attractions apart from the celebrations. We give some idea of a few of its picturesque spots in the accompanying pictures.
(Courtesy of American Crayon Co.)
Old Bridge Tower in Prague.
The main celebration, of course, will be the official one of the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of an independent Czecho-Slovak state. Ten years of independence have made the people more responsible, more self-reliant, and have awakened in them acute consciousness of the vast body of culture of which they are the inheritors. Accordingly, most of the celebrations will be either patriotic or cultural. The main feature of this first celebration, for instance, is the unveiling of the Wilson Memorial, the work of Albin Polasek.
The second great celebration is that of the thousandth anniversary of the death of St. Václav. This celebration, although in part patriotic, for Saint Václav is the patron saint of the nation, will be attended, also, by various religious manifestations of regard, chief of these being the completion of the St. Vitus Cathedral.
From July 31st to August 5th, 1928, the city will also be the scene of the VI International Congress for Art Education, Drawing and Art Applied to Industry. The Congress should prove both interesting and beneficial, since it will be attended by delegates from practically all over the world. Elihu Root has accepted the Honorary Presidency of the American delegation and the official American committee consists of Royal B. Farnum, Massachusetts School of Art, Boston; C. Valentine Kirby, State Director of Art Education of Pennsylvania, and Prof. George C. Cox of the Art department, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
Brno, the chief city of Moravia, will hold, in its own right a celebration which is to last all summer, the Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Czecho-Slovakia, arranged in com-