RESTAURANT MICHAL Náprstkova 273/8, Staré Město, 110 00 Praha 1, CZ
The unique folklore collection of costumes
and paintings
In the premises of the restaurant you can see our constantly expanding collection of folklore costumes. The owners are trying to present and advertise this collection and the national traditions not only in the restaurant but during the organisation of different folklore projects as well.
In the interior of the restaurant you can find the paintings and prints of our major folklore painters. In the main hall you can see the graphics from the collection of „Gentlemen´s fur coats“ by our most famous folklore painter Jožka Úprka (1861-1940). This painter was a colleague of Alfons Mucha and with his help he was exhibiting his paintings in the saloon of French artists in Paris. Here he received the prize „Mention Honorable“ for his painting „Pilgrimage at Saint Anthony“. Thanks to him the countryside of Slovácko became famous in Europe.
The owners of the restaurant, the Kačírek family, are big lovers of folklore and their collection already contains more than 70 beautiful, original, hand embroidered costumes. Some of them are more than 100 years old and are very valuable. Part of this collection you can see in the restaurant in the glass displays. These are changed every year so the guests can see all the old, original, hand embroidered costumes and other accessories from Western Bohemia to Eastern Slovakia.
The actual presentation of the ethnographic regions in the premises of the restaurant:
The ethnographic region of Chodsko is situated in Western Bohemia around the town of Domažlice. Chodsko people were mainly liberal farmers who were entrusted to protect and look after the country borders. The typical attribute of Chodsko is the large scale of folklore traditions – the folklore songs and the bagpipe music.These folklore traditions are presented during different festivals, for example: The Festival of Chodsko in Domažlice. Other famous products of this region are also delicious pies and local ceramics with the typical design.
The costume from Chodsko:
Woman and man dressed in national costumes from the western Bohemian region of lower Chodsko which were worn in the villages of Mrákov, Klíčov, Tlumačov, Nevolice, Stráž, Chrastavice, Luženice, Újezd, Petrovice, Draženov, Pasečnice, Havlovice, Bořice, Záhořany, Milavče and as well in the town surroundings of Domažlice. The head of the woman is decorated with the typically fastened hand embroidered scarf from Chodsko.
The Chodsko region
1
2
The Kozácko region
The ethnographic region of Kozácko (Táborsko-Milevsko), which is sometimes called Táborsko as well , is situated in the north part of South Bohemia.It is famous for the unique tradition called „bypassing of Lucys“ which still holds to present days and is related to the day of the 13th December when girls called Lucy celebrate their nameday in The Czech Republic. The national songs of Kozácko are famous as well and were collected by the highschool professor Čeněk Holas (10. 2. 1855 – 8. 2. 1939) who was a poet and a collector of national songs and dances which he listed in his book „Czech national songs and dances“ (contains 6 volumes, Prague 1908-1910).
The costume from Kozácko:
The woman dressed in the costume from the South Bohemian region of Táborsko (Kozácko). The costume is decorated with white perforated embroidery.
3
The region of South Bohemian Blata
The ethnographic region of Blata is situated in South Bohemia. The characteristic feature of this region is the big amount of fish ponds which were constructed in the 16th century. The main attribute of this region is the brick architecture with typical parget reliefs (so-called peasant baroque).
The costume from the South Bohemian region of Blata:
Woman and man dressed in the costumes from the South Bohemian region of Blata. The head of the woman is decorated with a typical item of this region – a large sheet of linen decorated with plenteous embroidery.
4
The region Polička – Eastern Bohemia
The ethnographic region of Polička is situated in Eastern Bohemia in the district of Svitavy. The town of Polička you can find near the border of Bohemia and Moravia and there are many beautiful monuments, for example, the town hall which is the National cultural monument. Two famous figures of Czech history were born in this town – Czech – Austrian shorthand writer Hynek Jakub Heger (5. 7. 1808 – 11. 5. 1854) the author of the first Czech shorthand notation and also Bohuslav Martinů (8. 12. 1890 – 28. 8. 1959) the internationally famous composer who is the author of the beautiful cantata „The Opening of the Springs“ for example.
The costume from the region of Polička:
Woman and man dressed in the costumes from the East Bohemian region of Polička. The woman is wearing a typical blue apron decorated with white embroidery. The man´s costume is decorated with the reconstruction of a typical belt. The man´s belt was in the past decorated with the embroidery featuring a peacock´s feather.
