Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Vaclavske Namesti

I've written a bit about the Tatra 603 elsewhere, but in summary, the Tatra 603 was introduced in 1956, after a design process that took 3 years, and borrowed a bit from earlier Tatra designs. It had a number of typically "American" features, including a HEMI V-8 engine, dual exhausts, and tailfins, while also having some distinctive Czech features such as a rear/rear layout and an air-cooled engine. The engine was also, in spite of being a HEMI, only 2.5L displacement, in contrast with the Mopar "Firepower" HEMI of the time, which came out to roughly 5.8L. The purpose of the Tatra 603 in the Czech "market," if that's the word, was to serve as a domestically-produced alternative to Soviet-built luxury cars issued to the Communist Party. The only users of the Tatra 603 who were not in the Communist Party elite were the Statna bezpecnost (StB), who were the Czech Communist secret police. Otherwise, the vast majority of Czechs (who qualified to have a car) were issued with whatever the current model of Skoda was. The Tatra 603 received two facelifts, in 1962 and 1968 although both had only a minor effect on its appearance. The more significant would have been the 1962 facelift, in which the original, unusual, three headlights were replaced with a more-conventional four. At least a few 1956-61 603's I've seen, though, have had five headlights, but I don't know if this was an original factory option. This is an example of the five-headlight configuration: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Tatra_603.jpg/1024px-Tatra_603.jpg Judging from the headlight design on the 603 in my photo, this appears to be a 1968-75 model, although I don't know the precise year.

This display of candles was isolated from the rest, depicting a heart and his birth and death years, which were 1936-2011. My sense is that before the candles got moved around, it was easier to read.

This was further down the square, at the Jan Palac/Jan Zajic memorial, one of two on the square (the other is a cross embedded in the sidewalk in front of the Narodni Muzeum).

A giant photo of Havel was prepared on short notice to hang from the Narodni Muzeum as part of the remembrance. There wasn't any dedicated memorial to Havel yet, since he had only just died, so everything had to be makeshift, as in this photo, and the adaptation of the Vaclav I and Palach/Zajic memorials for the purpose. Almost immediately, however, proceedings were begun to rename Prague's Ruzyne Airport to Letiste Vaclava Havla.

This is a wider shot, taken from the front of the statue instead of the left side as before.

This was what I found upon my return to Prague. Vaclav Havel, the former President and revolutionary, had died while I was away. This display of candles, cards, and so on, most of them around the older Svaty Vaclav (St. Wenceslas) statue, stayed up longer than planned, largely due to public outcry against government plans to dismantle it by New Year's Eve (remembering national heroes is a downer when people are on a drinking binge). If I'm remembering correctly, some elements of it were still up when I got back from my New Year's vacation to Wales.

I don't know, should this go in my idiot parking gallery? I don't actually know how this came about. The main point is that this car is owned by a private security company!

Folk crafts of various kinds can be found in many city centres in the Czech Republic, and even Prague is no exception. This was a blacksmith, most visibly making swords, but also making a full range of other iron souvenirs.

I don't know the history of this very Dutch-looking building, and I didn't even notice it until I saw a tourist taking a photo from almost this same spot.

Usually the W302 isn't too good at getting sky details, but this was an exception in that it just about succeeded.

Here's another shot of the Vaclavske Namesti Christmas market.

Another Christmas tradition in the Czech Republic is that most communities have a Christmas market in the center of town. Even Benesov has at least something that could be described as such, but Prague has many, as it's a city of 1.2 million people. One of them is in Staromestske Namesti, another is in Malostranske Namesti, another is in Namesti Miru, the usual marketplace in Havelske Trziste becomes a Christmas market of sorts, and then there's this one, at the Mustek end of Vaclavske Namesti, which usually has a big Christmas tree, with 2008 being no exception. The building that you can see in the background, on the right, is Palac Koruna, and the street heading back is Na Prikope, which goes to Namesti Republiky, which has yet another Christmas market.

If this is really Palac Adria or some other such building please let me know! :-) I just liked the look of the architecture, of course, and took the shot.

I liked the light, I liked the buds on the trees, and so on, so I figured this shot was one that I wanted. I've forgotten whether I took this from the ground or a tram window, though.

I just couldn't resist this shot, with the combination of the architecture, the sunlight, the shadows, and the sky. I may work on this one in Gimp a little bit more, but this is the most basic version for now...

Again, I don't know the history of this building, but I noted when I took that that much of it seemed unoccupied, and indeed the endless construction in Vaclavske Namesti appeared to have killed many of the businesses cut off by it, although Vaclavske Namesti didn't die, and remains vibrant today.

This was an alternate shot that I took of the Ligna building that I thought looked much better in black and white, so I converted it.

This is another interesting old building, with that Skoda ad that's been on top for decades and decades. The Ligna company was founded in 1949, but I'm fairly sure the building is older. Does anybody know???