Slovansky Dum (Deutsches Haus): Prague (CZECH REPUBLIC)

Sigh... The location tool seems to have a real problem with Czech addresses, so I really hope I managed at least to land it in Prague, or at the very least in the right country! Apologies if this pin is pointing at the North pole...

In the centre of Prague old city, near the old Municipal House (Smetana Hall, Obecni Dum) and the Gothic City gate (Prasna Brana) is this little high end shopping mall that I enjoy walking through on the way from the concert hall (Smetana Hall) and the tram stop. You can tell it is high end from the various shops that line the sides... they definitely scream, "not for you!" to me... and I'm always too intimidated to even try to set foot into any of them. Interestingly enough, there is a nice little coin and precious metals shop in there... but again, I feel like I would have my scruffy arse chased out of there if I was lucky... and be escorted out by security if I wasn't!

Well... the thrill of being kicked out of shops ISN'T the reason that I like prowling through this high end mall. Although, if I was twenty years younger... it might have been a little bit of naughty fun!

Instead, I like walking through these marbled halls to stop and have a look at all the art that is on display in the shop windows! Many of the shops don't have an actual display on the mall side of their shopfronts, generally just a door. So, that means that most of the wall space is devoted to displaying works of local artists!

I suspect that one of the many shopfronts is an art dealer.... somewhere, I've not been game enough to wander in and ask around!

So, there is art to cater for every taste.... I find this particular display not really to my liking. I find it a bit kitsch and modern for my tastes.... I'm not sure that I would want a female rendition of Hans Solo in carbonite in my house (I think that is what that is?).... and the rest looks like things that you could otherwise pick up at a dollar store or an IKEA outlet.

This display is much more to my taste... I'm not that adventurous when it comes to visual art. I like the colours and the geometry of this...

Hmmm... I guess if you were into motorcycles then this display would be right up your alley... even more so if you like riding motorcycles in the nude... which strikes me as a foolish and potentially quite painful thing to do!

Up in the air about this display... I like some of them, but not others. In many ways it strikes me as a bit child-like... but there is a certain cute naiveite about all of the drawings.

Meh... too edgy... Although I do like the ones that aren't of faces. The bottom two (in blue and red).

Hmmm... I like these, but I'm not sure that these are the sorts of things that I would hang on a wall. To me, they seem more like postcard images. I really do like them though... that egg in the middle on the bottom is especially awesome!

... and just before exiting out the other end of the mall. If you are into just very pastel and traditional drawings and paintings, there is something that will also cater to your taste! I like these... but they are crazily old-fashioned, and not really the sort of thing that would end up on our walls!

Interestingly enough, this mall is locked off in the night and evening hours... I guess that is to stop people spending the night within. I guess high end means very exclusive... otherwise how would people know that other people are just better people?