Liberec - The Snowman Roundabout
by Tomas Kysela
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Liberec - The Snowman RoundaboutThe World > Europe > Czech Republic |
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View from under the E442 road bridge. The raw concrete structure painted with graffiti stands over one of the most unfortunate traffic solutions in Liberec - system of roundabouts we call "The Snowman" (check the map to see why). I took the shot well after midnight to avoid traffic which plagues the Snowman during any other part of the day. The snow, artificial light and emptiness give the place a strange feeling of peace.
View from the cycle path which runs through the city of Liberec. The night shot allows for some funky...
The Zeyerova street underpass is a traditional domain of street artists close to the center of Libere...
Being one of the busiest traffic knots in Liberec, shot during freezing late winter night. This place...
One of many alleys connecting the upper and lower Liberec city centre shot on a foggy winter night.
Kostelni street is one of those seemingly forgotten places in the very centre of the city. On one sid...
A more desolate part of the Liberec city centre, just about a hundred meters away from the city hall,...
Prodejna elektro Samsung, v obchodnim centru Forum Liberec.
Prodejna elektro Samsung, v obchodnim centru Forum Liberec.
View from in front of the library and new synagogue. You can see the modern building of the Research ...
A spring evening in the Liberec city centre. You can see the red Liberec Castle, the Ceska Sporitelna...
The Czech Republic is a cool little landlocked country south of Germany and Poland, with a national addiction to pork and beer. Potatos, cabbage, and dumplings are close behind them, and they also have this great bar food called "utopenec." It means "a drowned man," it's pickled sausage with onions, perfect with some dark wheat bread and beer. The Czech bread is legendary, like a meal all by itself.
Czechoslovakia first became a sovereign state in 1918 when it declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The state of Czechoslovakia lasted until the "Velvet Divorce" of 1993, which created Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
It was occupied by Germany in WWII but escaped major damage, unlike most other European cities. The nation's capital, Prague, retains some of Europe's most beautiful Baroque architecture as well as one of the largest medieval castle complexes still standing. The President of the Czech Republic has his offices in the Prague Castle even today.
There was a coup d'etat in 1948 and Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet rule. For fifty years Czechoslovakia was a Socialist state under the USSR, subject to censorship, forced atheism and even the arrest of jazz musicians!
In 1989, communist police violently squashed a pro-democracy demonstration and pissed everybody off so bad that a revolution erupted over it, finally ending the Communist rule.
The next twenty years saw rapid economic growth and westernization. Today in Prague you can eat at McDonald's or KFC, shop for snowboarding boots and go see a punk rock show.
The Czech Republic took over the presidency of the European Union in January 2009. This instantly created lots of political drama because the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, is a renowned Euroskeptic.
We anxiously await the outcome of "President Klaus vs. the Lisbon Treaty", a world heavywieght fight sceduled for spring 2009.
Text by Steve Smith.
