Prague - Pavements and Patterns

I had told in my previous post that Prague is a very beautiful city. While in any new place it would be common to be told 'watch your step', you should take that literally in prague - for prague's beauty lies even in its streets.

Prague's pavements, or sidewalks, (depending on which side of the atlantic you come from) are paved with beautiful patterns in many areas. They are such a work of art, the granite cobbles laid out by hand, stone by stone. 

So while you certainly have to keep looking at the buildings in every direction around you, make sure you look down too, to this unique form of street art exclusive to Prague.

The most commonly found are white and grey stones, but some areas in the heart of the old town also have pink stones. 

There are apparently 25 or so different patterns, and i was delighted every time i spotted a new pattern, and tried to capture as many as i could. I share a few below.

I wish i could know more background information on these patterns sidewalks in prague - like when was it started this way, how was it decided to have patterns, instead of paving them all plain (which would of course most likely involve less costs for a city administration), or who gets to decide the design. Unfortunately there seems to be hardly anything to be found online, but i did come across this youtube video of an interview with the workers laying, if you're interested. It has english subtitles, so you can get to know a little about where the stones come from, how the designs are given to the layers etc.

If you keep your eyes on the ground in prague, the footpaths are not the only interesting thing you'll see - prague's sewer/drain covers are also well designed, i thought. They come with the official prague coat of arms - three towers above, and below it, an armoured arm holding a sword at the city gate. You can see the details in the pic below. 

I also saw this lamp post with the same coat of arms, presumably one of the older ones remaining, as in most places, there are just plain modern ones. 

Prague definitely does has a love of patterns i think - this building below is right outside the castle entrance. Im not sure what building it is, but the details all over the exterior wall definitely look beautiful. 

Another interesting find was during a stroll i had some distance from the neighbourhood where we were staying. The exterior pattern on this one made me smile, because it was a very familiar one for south indian eyes - the half filled diamond, called the 'araimaadam', is a pattern woven on the borders of traditional tamilnadu silk sarees, especially bridal ones.

The only difference is that in silk sarees, the shading is in the horizontal half, like the left half of the diamond is shaded and right left blank, instead of the top half blank and bottom half shaded as in the photo here. So imagine my surprise when i spotted a traditional weaving pattern from south india half a world away in a quiet road in central europe. Also if you zoom in, you can see a strip of mural below the pattern, which has a long line of cherubic children doing grown-up things, like dining in a restaurant, playing musical instruments etc. Interesting indeed.

So if you're out and about in prague, remember to keep your eyes peeled for all the beautiful things that this city is filled with.