Explore Prague

🇨🇿 May 27, 1942.

In occupied Prague, two Czechoslovak soldiers carried out one of the most daring resistance operations of World War II.

Their target was Reinhard Heydrich – one of the most powerful men in N**i Germany. ⚔️

The mission succeeded.

But the consequences would be devastating. 🕯️

Swipe through Part I of the story of Operation Anthropoid. ↓

🪟✨ Today marks the anniversary of the Second Defenestration of Prague (May 23, 1618) – when a group of angry Protestant nobles at Prague Castle 👑 threw two imperial governors (and their secretary) out of a window.

Spoiler: they survived the fall 😅

Less fortunately for Europe ⚔️, the incident helped ignite the Thirty Years’ War.

Prague has contributed many things to world history: Gothic architecture ⛪, world-famous beer 🍺… and an oddly impressive commitment to solving political crises through windows 🪟

Several major turning points in Czech history escalated this way, most famously in 1419 and 1618, when angry crowds (or nobles) decided that standard political disagreement was no longer sufficient.

So if you ever hear someone mention Prague’s “defenestrations,” just know:

this city occasionally approached conflict with a level of dramatic commitment rarely seen elsewhere in Europe ✨

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 🖤 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐳 𝐊𝐚𝐟𝐤𝐚

Meet one of the more… quietly unsettling figures of Prague: Statue of Franz Kafka in the Jewish Quarter. 🖤 Created in 2003 by Czech sculptor Jaroslav Róna, the statue shows a small man sitting on the shoulders of a much larger, empty figure – a visual drawn from one of Kafka’s early texts, Description of a Struggle 📖

At first glance, it might seem abstract. Slightly strange. Maybe even a bit surreal.
Which, in a way, is exactly the point.

Kafka’s writing often explores disorientation, shifting identities, and the feeling of being carried by forces you don’t fully control. The figure beneath him has no face, no expression – just a presence. And yet, it’s the foundation.

So what are we looking at, exactly?
A man carried by something invisible?
A self divided into two?
Or simply… a very Kafkaesque moment.
And what does “Kafkaesque” really mean anyway?

The statue doesn’t answer. It just stands there, quietly, letting you decide.
The best way to experience it – and understand the layers behind it is during our Prague Old Town, New Town & Jewish Quarter Tour, where the context, the symbolism, and Kafka himself start to come together 🎧

10:00 AM (main season) / 9:30 AM (off-season)
👉 Book here: https://www.exploreprague.cz/tours/old-town-new-town-jewish-quarter/

🧀✨ 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐳̌𝐚́𝐤: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐳𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐝 “𝐘𝐞𝐬” 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 ✨🧀

Some foods tell you a lot about a country. 🇨🇿

In Czechia, one of them is smažák: breaded, deep-fried cheese most often served with fries and tartar souce. 🍽️🧀

Simple? Very. Heavy? Also yes.
Deeply loved across generations? Absolutely.

Smažák became especially popular during the communist era, when meat could be expensive or difficult to access 🍽️. Fried cheese offered something warm, filling, affordable – and over time, earned permanent status in Czech pubs and hearts alike.

Today, it remains:
🧀 a student favorite
🍺 a pub essential
🌙 and mysteriously irresistible after midnight

Because not all Prague classics are Gothic cathedrals and royal palaces.
Some come with melted cheese inside. ✨