SOFFA 20 / ENIGMA, English edition

SOFFA

design

food

people

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VOLUME | 20

life

SOFFA

design

food

people

travel

life

ISSUE THEME: ENIGMA The twentieth issue of SOFFA is full of mystery and magic. Join us on a journey to a universe filled with puzzles, experiments, dreams and desires, and unveil the mysteries of our world!

Contents

SOFFA ISSUE 20 IS ALL ABOUT

ENIGMA The mystery-filled SOFFA 20 has two goals: to entertain you with illusions and magical experiments, and to lift the lid on some fascinating and thought-provoking stories.

In our regular features on architecture and interiors we unveil the imposing grandeur of Petschek’s Palace, enlighten you with a story of a beautiful old synagogue, and rejoice at a whimsical floating house. Moving on from Czechia, our collage takes you to several forgotten places around the world and beyond. Nature’s harsh beauty is featured in the travel story on the Svalbard archipelago and in the depiction of enigmatic rock reliefs found in Vysočina. The fashion story is a thought-provoking homage to a famous painting by René Magritte, and famous paintings also frame another story in this issue.

We can’t forget the utterly Czech puzzle – the hedgehog in a cage – and our gallery of mind-boggling optical illusions. Lastly, you will discover what hides behind mystical masks and the many expressions of the human face, and visit a botanical ‘laboratory’ where you can make your own magical potions!

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Welcome | Our Little Secret Photo Essay | Magritte’s Girl Interior | Petschek Palace Interview | Nancy Petschek-Kohn Photography | Leica – Jewel Among Cameras Decor | Obscured From View Creative People | Genuine Notebooks Editors’ Choice | Spring Novelties Creative People | What is Hænke?

Travel | Land of Day and Night Culture | Spirits and Their Faces Decor | Porcelain – The Storyteller Photo Essay | Mysteries of the Face World Towers | Reaching to the Stars Architecture | Pop-up House Optical Illusion | Don’t Believe Your Eyes DIY Magic | The SOFFA Laboratory Utterly Czech | Hedgehog in the Cage Collage | Forgotten Places Interior | The Jewish Star of Úštěk Gallery | When Stone Speaks

Welcome

OUR LITTLE SECRET photo: Alžběta Jungrová | post-production: Jan Gloser

As this issue is about secrets, mysteries and puzzles of all kinds, I would like to share with you, our dear readers, two of our secrets. The first secret represents a milestone for SOFFA, a magazine created in Prague by a Czech editorial team. This, our twentieth issue, is a big first for us because for the first time we are publishing the magazine in two concurrent versions: English and Czech! Great excitement, but also a bit of anxiety abounds as we shepherd this issue to print. After all, seeing the articles printed for the first time in our mother tongue is a wonderful experience. We hope that this great milestone will bring SOFFA closer to those who cannot read the magazine in English or would simply prefer to read it in Czech.

What will you find in this issue full of mystery? In our original photo essays we unveil the secrets of the human face and of famous works of art. We introduce you to lost and forgotten places – some with chilling tales – and share stories of people and places that deserve our admiration and respect. In our travel feature we explore the distant Svalbard islands, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic, as full of wonder as the rock art found in a flooded quarry in the Czech Republic’s Vysočina [the Highlands] region. Our lighthearted fashion story is the source of the cover photo and we hope it will amuse you as much as it does us. Amusement should also come from our stories dedicated to optical illusions and DIY experiments – just give them a try. And now to the second little secret, hidden in the cipher below. Can you guess what it is?

Adéla Kudrnová | editor in chief

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Photo Essay

MAGRITTE'S GIRL WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING? EVERYONE HAS SECRETS, FANCIES AND DEVIANCES THEY WISH TO HIDE FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD. text & styling: Patrik Florián | make-up and hair: Aleksandra Sidorina | model: Tereza Debnárová dog model: Joris | photo: Alžběta Jungrová

IT’S A GLORIOUS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND THE WARM SUN KISSES HER ENIGMATIC FACE. SHE IS ALONE IN A GRAND HOME WITH NOTHING PLANNED. WAS IT BOREDOM OR FANCY THAT GOT HER OUT OF BED TODAY? DOES IT MATTER? TODAY IS HERS ALONE, WITH THE WORLD AT HER FEET. IS SHE HAPPY, OR DOES HER CONCEALED FACE HIDE TEARY EYES? SHE MAY BE A FOOL, BUT WHO CARES – NO ONE IS LOOKING …

You know that feeling – the doors close behind you and you enter your own world, where you and only you are the centre of everything. Suddenly you can do anything – jump on the bed, sing, dance or have a good long argument with yourself. We could write pages about what people do when no one is looking – anonymity is a great cure for fear. Are you afraid?

It’s a trick you learnt as a child – hide your face in your hands and you become invisible. Feeling a bit bashful or guilty? Lower your head gently and you will feel better straight away. It is concealment that gives courage not only to the thief, but also the rescuer. Brides wear a veil as a symbol of their purity; other women use it to honour their faith. Do we experience tension between what is seen and what is hidden, as the artist René Magritte portrayed in his famous surrealist painting The Son of Man? How would it be to live completely in anonymity? Would it feel like complete freedom or a lonely abyss? Close your doors, pull the curtains, and join us on a journey into an anonymous world. ■

We thank Terezia Bělčáková, Adéla Kudrnová and Aleksandra Sidorina for lending us clothes for this photo essay.

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www.ton.eu

alba collection designed by Alexander Gufler IT/AT

First introduced at Salone del Mobile 2017

Interior

PETSCHEK PALACE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, THE IMPOSING PALACE REMINDS US OF THE PROMINENT PETSCHEK FAMILY, LARGELY FORGOTTEN IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC. text: Tereza Škoulová | photo: Lina Németh

OUR FASCINATION WITH THE PETSCHEK FAMILY BEGAN IN THE CORRIDORS OF THE PETSCHEK PALACE. THEY WERE ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST FAMILIES OF POST WORLD WAR I CZECHOSLOVAKIA, YET THEIR NAME IS NOT AS WELL KNOWN AS BAŤA, ŠKODA OR JELÍNEK. THE FOUNDERS OF THE FAMILY EMPIRE, FATHER MOSES AND HIS THREE SONS ISIDOR, JULIUS AND IGNATZ, CONTROLLED AT ONE POINT HALF OF THE EUROPEAN BROWN COAL MINE INDUSTRY AND WERE ALSO INVOLVED IN CZECH BANKING. THEY BUILT A NUMBER OF BUILDINGS IN PRAGUE AND ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM – ONE OF THEM THE BANK HOUSE PETSCHEK AND CO., WHICH IN THE 1920S BECAME A SYMBOL OF THE POWERFUL FAMILY EMPIRE.

Moses Petschek, the founder of the family business, started out as a peddler and a money-lender. Thanks to profitable real estate investments he went on to purchase shares in a coal mine in Most, and from these humble beginnings he and his three sons gradually built a business empire. The older brothers, Isidor the lawyer and Julius the financier, were active in Prague, while Ignatz – the youngest and most successful – focused his business activities in the northern town of Ústí nad Labem. While Ignatz became wealthy through the coal trade, his brothers came to control some of the largest mining companies in Czechia, and they also owned shares in paper, glass and chemical industries. ►

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In the 1920s the brothers combined forces and managed to capture almost half of the brown coal trade in Europe. They also established the Bank House Petschek and Co., for which they commissioned the opulent Petschek Palace, a symbol of their great wealth and power. The brothers died before the start of World War II and so were spared the fate of other Jewish business owners during Nazi occupation. Their children were forced to sell their vast properties at greatly reduced prices before leaving the country, and that is how the state came to own this architectural gem.

The palace stands on the corner of Wilsonova and Politických vězňů [Political Prisoners’] streets – it is the building whose cellars emit cool air even on the hottest day.

Some believe that the cold exuding from the building is a reminder of the suffering that took place there, as the Gestapo converted the building into a place of torture after the Petschek family had left. The cellar now houses a memorial to Czech wartime resistance, a poignant reminder of the building’s dark history. ►

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Today the palace houses the Ministry of Industry and Trade and except on rare open days, it is not accessible to the public. Rather a shame, as the Petscheks put great care and thought into its design. The architect Max Spielmann worked with choice materials, evident in the dark wood panelling of the corridors and the imposing stone in a variety of shades that defines the entryway and the adjoining meeting hall. Great attention was also paid to small details – the door handles, window latches and door hinges are beautifully refined. The building was cooled with an internal air condition system and had a paternoster lift, which functions to this day. The metal doors of the lift were built in the 1950s and were designed to fit seamlessly with the building’s original décor. ■

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Interview

NANCY PETSCHEK-KOHN WHAT A DESCENDANT OF THE PETSCHEK FAMILY LEARNT WHEN SEARCHING FOR HER FAMILY ROOTS. text: Tereza Škoulová | photo: Nancy Petschek-Kohn’s archive

NANCY PETSCHEK-KOHN IS A GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF IGNATZ PETSCHEK, THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEMBER OF THE WEALTHY JEWISH FAMILY. HE LIVED IN ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM BETWEEN 1880 AND 1934 AND RAN A NUMBER OF SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISES THERE. THE PRAGUE CONTINGENT OF THE PETSCHEK FAMILY WAS ABLE TO SELL THEIR PROPERTIES BEFORE THEIR FLIGHT FROM THE NAZIS, BUT IGNATZ WAS NOT ABLE TO DO THE SAME IN ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM, SO NANCY’S FAMILY LOST EVERYTHING. WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE CONTACT WITH NANCY AND LEARN ABOUT THE FATE OF HER FAMILY AFTER THEIR DEPARTURE FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

What is your first memory of the Petschek side of your family? I remember being aware even as a small child that my father’s family was different. We often visited them in their large home in the same town in New York where we lived. I did not understand and was baffled by the discussions going on in German. It just seemed so foreign to me, and even my mother didn’t understand it.

I of course became more and more interested in the family and its history.

I was plagued with the question of why our family had been so lucky when most of the Czechoslovakian and other European Jews were murdered or forced to work in camps until they died a ‘natural’ death. In the 1960s there was very little information about the Holocaust and few people spoke about it.

Did you eventually learn more? When I was in college, my best friend from high school was studying at Brandeis University. One day she called me, exclaiming, ‘Nancy, I think I’m reading about your family in the book we are using in class!’ The book was Raul Hilberg’s The Destruction of the European Jews. I immediately called my father to ask about the book, and he calmly replied, ‘Oh, yes.

Uncle Frank helped to get the book published. I have a copy at home.’ Reading the section on the Petschek family gave me my first glimpse at just how extensive the family business had been.

Did you know that your ancestors had lived in Europe? My grandparents and father spoke very little about their lives before leaving Europe. We did know that they had lived in Cuba for nine months before getting into the USA, except for my father who had a student visa. We also knew that they had owned coal mines and had been a wealthy and well known family back in Czechoslovakia.

When did your interest in this part of your family history begin? When I learnt about the Holocaust in middle school

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What interested you most about the story? I still question not only how they were able to get out of Europe, but also how they were able to live a life here with few, if any, of the problems and impediments most immigrants faced. How could they live the way they did immediately after escaping the Nazis, when obviously they were not able to take the coal mines with them? It was a question to which I got few answers for many, many years. It not only made me proud and grateful of my grandfather’s abilities, but it also left me with a worry that anything could happen at any time and we might not be so lucky in the future.

people in the streets. We crossed the Charles Bridge one late afternoon and we were the only ones there!

When visiting Ústí you saw houses that had belonged to your family. Did you want to get them back? My grandfather and great-uncles had spent many years proving ownership [of some of the properties], but after my grandfather’s death in 1959 the family felt they had been recompensed enough. The family continues to live without mentioning restitution and we certainly live a more than comfortable life in the USA. Your family’s legacy won’t be forgotten.

I heard you are working on a book? Years ago my cousin and I said we should write a book, but we were young and no one from the older generation wanted to talk.

I was always trying to get more information about the family, but received only a few stories. In 2009 I was contacted by the Hamburg State and University Library because they had found books in their collection that had belonged to my family that were obtained illegally during the war. I had no idea these books even existed. Ever since the books were returned I have been great friends with the German librarian who first contacted me. And it was then that I realised it was the right time to begin a book about the Petschek family. It won’t be the definitive story – rather a half memoir and half history. ■

What was your upbringing like? I grew up in a suburb of New York. We lived in a large house, went on vacations and had good schooling. There was no question that we would go to college. We also grew up knowing how philanthropic the Petschek family was and continued to be in the USA. Do you remember your first journey to the former Czechoslovakia? As a teenager I went on a summer study trip to the Soviet Union and we also stopped in Prague and Warsaw. Then in 1984 I went to Prague, Ústí and Terezín with my father and I heard stories about the Petschek family’s generosity to institutions as well as to employees. The trip was enlightening, but Prague itself was drab with few

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FREJA NIELSEN COPENHAGEN BASED ILLUSTRATOR AND DESIGNER

Contact: freja_nielsen@hotmail.com

Photography

LEICA – JEWEL AMONG CAMERAS

LEICA, SYMBOL OF QUALITY AND PRECISION. CAN A LEICA STILL SURPRISE? SOFFA BRINGS YOU THE PAST AND THE PRESENT OF THIS ICONIC BRAND AND INVITES YOU TO VISIT PRAGUE’S LEICA BOUTIQUE. partner for the article: Centrum FotoŠkoda | text: Hana Švolbová | photo: company archives

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MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD, THE LEICA BRAND STANDS BEHIND MANY PRODUCTS THAT HAVE DEFINED KEY MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. TODAY IT IS THE ONLY COMPANY THAT MANUFACTURES ITS CAMERAS COMPLETELY IN EUROPE. FOR CZECH PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS, CENTRUM FOTOŠKODA IS THE ONLY PLACE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC WHERE YOU CAN BUY A CAMERA AND GET A COMPLETE CAMERA SERVICE UNDER ONE ROOF. HOW THE TWO BRANDS INTERCONNECT IS REVEALED BY MARTIN ŠKODA, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISTINCTIVE PRAGUE PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTRE.

‘To a photographer the Leica brand represents a high premium purchase. It is the jewel among cameras, and that is why it holds its value so well,’ says Martin Škoda, representative of Centrum FotoŠkoda, the largest photographic centre in the Czech Republic. The Leica Boutique opened here five years ago – after five years of negotiations – and is the only such boutique in the Czech Republic. The boutique offers something for everyone. For family holidays there are the compact, easy to store cameras. The rangefinder M series beckons documentarians and analogue photographers alike, and professionals are drawn to the medium format Leica S. ‘Leica is a brand that brings up emotions, positive and negative. Although the brand joined the digital era late, it has never come out with a below-average model,’ elaborates Martin. With their latest models Leica is returning to its roots and to the original range of 35 mm film cameras, which they pioneered under the leadership of Oskar Barnack. The body and manual controls of Leica’s new M10 resembles the older M series 35 mm film cameras, and so Leica enthusiasts can now enjoy cutting edge technology dressed in the classic body they love.

Is it still possible for a camera maker to surprise the world with something unexpected? ‘I believe that Leica can still surprise,’ avows Martin Škoda. ‘While their products are timeless, they embrace the latest technology – even mobile phone technology.

Recently, for example, Leica introduced a digital camera, not an SLR, with the highest ► LEFT AND THIS PAGE: The Leica M10 combines classic look and functionality with technical innovations – everything today’s photographer needs. | Ernst Leitz I was one of the founders of the famous company that later took the name Leica. His son Ernst Leitz II was behind the decision to make cameras that use 35 mm film and forever changed the history of photography.

RIGHT: Oskar Barnack built the Ur-Leica – the first 35 mm film camera – and is considered the father of modern photography.

The Leica Boutique in Prague’s Centrum FotoŠkoda offers the full range of Leica products.

resolution view-finder. The company also makes the Leica Monochrome, the best full frame camera for black and white photography.’ Leica is also about keeping pace with modern trends and their latest product is their first instant camera, the Leica Sofort.

‘For instant photographers the Leica Sofort offers the greatest range of settings with functionality similar to that of a digital camera,’ explains Martin, ‘and its manual settings offer that much more.’

What does Centrum FotoŠkoda offer Leica enthusiasts? ‘In addition to Leica’s complete product range, we also provide a complete photo service,’ describes Martin. ‘To ensure the highest standard of service, our employees are trained twice per year at Leica’s headquarters in Germany. Also, a Leica specialist joins the twice yearly FotoŠkoda Fest events. And our customers are welcome to visit Leica’s manufacturing facilities.’

Centrum FotoŠkoda started to sell used photographic equipment 25 years ago. They continue to sell classic and antique cameras, and a Leica holds its value even after many years. Are today’s photographers interested in analogue technology? ‘It’s mostly the younger generation that is interested in experimenting with classic cameras,’ says Martin. ‘Hardly anyone manufactures analogue cameras today, but interest in old equipment remains.’

Centrum FotoŠkoda is more than the exclusive representative of the Leica brand in the Czech Republic. It is Czechia’s largest photographic centre with a number of experts in the field and it offers everything a photographer may need. ‘FotoŠkoda is based in Langhans Palace, a place closely associated with photography for more than 100 years,’ elaborates Martin. ‘Some customers come to us as though they were visiting a museum. We try to have everything available, including everything for analogue photography, which is unique here. Photography is not simply about taking a photo, it is about having a certain know-how. We try to pass this know-how onto our customers – with their purchase they are entitled to a free basic course on how to use their camera, and we also offer a range of talks, workshops, specific courses and a school of digital photography. We make prints, both in classic formats, as well as large formats, and of course create photo books, calendars and other memorabilia,’ adds Martin Škoda proudly. ■

For more information go to www.fotoskoda.cz/leica

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Decor

OBSCURED FROM VIEW THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT A PAINTING TELLS A STORY. BUT SOMETIMES THE PAINTING ITSELF BECOMES PART OF A DRAMA THAT IS NOT VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE. text: Adéla Kudrnová | styling: Lenka Hlaváčová | photo: Lina Németh

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THE ALLURE OF A GREAT PAINTING, PAINSTAKINGLY CRAFTED IN A STUDIO OR IN THE OPEN AIR, CAN ALWAYS BE ENHANCED WITH A GOOD STORY. ALL YOU NEED IS A CRIME OF PASSION, A CATASTROPHE, OR THE PLAYFUL WHIM OF AN ARTIST WANTING TO COMMUNICATE A DEEPER MEANING. MIX IN A BIT OF LOVE AND ROMANCE, A THEME SO INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, AND THE RESULTING MYSTERY CAN LEAD TO IMAGINATIVE, ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE STORIES – NOT TO MENTION CONSPIRACY THEORIES.

There is a long list of priceless works of art that have become lost from public view, unlikely to be seen again. In most cases they have been stolen, their canvasses cleverly hidden. But sometimes they have been simply ‘tucked away’ and are patiently waiting to be admired by the public once more. Such was the case with Picasso’s painting Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, which returned into public view after sixty years and was immediately valued as one of the most expensive paintings in the world.

Throughout the ages war has played with the fate of many works of art. Often captured as prized spoils of war, valuable art pieces were taken from one winning side to another or hidden in secret locations until peacetime. It is therefore not surprising that in the flux of hostilities that have marked much of our history some priceless works have become lost. This was true for a collection of some 1,400 paintings and drawings found just a few years ago near Munich in the flat of an unassuming older gentleman. The collection included works by Chagall, Matisse and Courbet that had been confiscated by the Nazis at the start of World War II and were believed to have been destroyed in the bombing of Dresden. Returning the confiscated pieces to the descendants of their rightful owners will surely result in another fascinating chapter of the drama surrounding this incredible treasure trove.

Other paintings, like Botticelli’s beautiful Primavera, were graced with intrigue at the time of their creation. While at first glance the painting appears to be a celebration of female beauty and a tribute to the bounty of spring, some believe that Primavera contains clues about a plot against the powerful Medici family. Others think that the painting is an attempt to reconcile in one image the ideals of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, an idea promoted by Neoplatonist intellectuals at the Medici court. Another intriguing, albeit more whimsical painting is The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck.

A masterpiece of perspective, the painting includes a convex mirror revealing the backs of the painted couple. With the help of a magnifying glass the painter himself can be seen hiding in the mirror, greeting observant viewers with his raised hand. ■

PASSAGE OF TIME CAPTIVATED BY THE INTERPLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, CLAUDE MONET PAINTED SEVERAL SERIES THAT CAPTURED THE SAME PLACE AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF DAY AND YEAR. IN HIS MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, MONET ATTEMPTED TO UNVEIL THE LONDON SCENE IN ITS EVER-CHANGING ENTIRETY. HIS SERIES NUMBER DOZENS OF PAINTINGS, BUT DO WE KNOW IF THEY ARE COMPLETE? COULD THERE BE A MISSING PIECE OF MONET’S FASCINATING STUDY OF LIGHT? Claude Monet | Houses of Parliament Series, 1900–1905

BEAUTY REVEALED FRANCISCO DE GOYA PAINTED THE YOUNG WOMAN RECLINING ON PILLOWS IN TWO VERSIONS: ONE IN THE NUDE AND ONE FULLY CLOTHED. THE CHURCH CONSIDERED THE FIRST VERSION TO BE INDECENT AND REQUIRED THAT THE ARTIST ‘CORRECT’ HIS INDISCRETION WITH THE SECOND VERSION. MANUEL DE GODOY, THE FIRST OWNER OF THE PAINTINGS, HAD THE CLOTHED VERSION DISPLAYED IN FRONT OF THE NUDE AND WHEN DESIRED, THE NUDE WAS REVEALED WITH THE HELP OF A PULLEY. Francisco de Goya | The Nude Maja, 1797–1800; The Clothed Maja, 1800–1805

DOUBLE FACE THE ART NOUVEAU MASTER GUSTAV KLIMT FELL MADLY IN LOVE WITH A YOUNG VIENNESE WOMAN AND PAINTED HER PORTRAIT. HIS MUSE DIED SOON THEREAFTER, AND TO ALLEVIATE HIS SORROW KLIMT DECIDED TO REWORK HER PORTRAIT. THIS WAS NOT REALISED UNTIL ALMOST 100 YEARS LATER, WHEN AN ATTENTIVE ART STUDENT NOTICED REMARKABLE SIMILARITY BETWEEN TWO PAINTINGS SHOWN IN A CATALOGUE OF KLIMT’S WORK – ONE OF WHICH HAD BEEN LOST SINCE 1912.

Gustav Klimt | Portrait of a Lady, 1916–1917

Creative People

GENUINE NOTEBOOKS

AN ORIGINAL IDEA, REAL CRAFTSMANSHIP, LOVE OF PAPER, DETERMINATION. INTRODUCING YOUNG_BLOCK, A SMALL COMPANY WITH A DIFFERENT TAKE ON THE CLASSIC NOTEBOOK. text: Helena Novotná | styling: Lenka Hlaváčová | photo: Adéla Havelková

IF YOU BOUGHT A SUBSCRIPTION TO SOFFA OVER THE PAST TWO MONTHS, YOU RECEIVED A GIFT OF OUR STYLISH NOTEBOOK, DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH THE YOUNG COMPANY CALLED YOUNG_BLOCK. AT SOFFA WE BELIEVE THAT EVEN IN TIMES OF TABLETS, PHABLETS AND EVER SMARTER GADGETS A SIMPLE NOTEBOOK AND A PENCIL ARE STILL THE BEST TOOLS FOR JOTTING DOWN YOUR IDEAS – ANYWHERE, AND JUST HOW YOU LIKE IT. WHEN JIŘÍ VOGEL AND DAVID EDLMAN DECIDED TO ESTABLISH YOUNG_BLOCK, THEY HAD A CLEAR IDEA ABOUT HOW TO TRANSFORM WHAT IS USUALLY A BORING NOTE KEEPING HELPER INTO AN ELEGANT COMPANION.

Few youngsters are clear about what they want to do when they grow up, but Jiří Vogel knew he wanted to build his own company when he was just sixteen. He waited for a few years for the right idea and in the meantime gathered experience in all kinds of business, where he amassed a sizeable collection of corporate notebooks and diaries.

How many did he use? None! And then the light bulb moment when he saw a diary from the H.R.G. printing house. The quality of the paper and the fine craftsmanship were proof that corporate diaries could be made better. He began to work on the idea during his nights and by January 2015 young_block saw the light of day!

Today young_block works with big corporations – UniCredit Bank, Škoda and others – creating custom-made corporate stationary. The kind that won’t end up in a desk drawer and then in the bin; the kind that makes the company proud and the recipient happy. ‘We are a small firm for big clients. We can make a series with 100 pieces and with 10,000,’ explains Jiří Vogel. The company also produces limited editions of their own designs, which can be purchased at youngblock.cz. One of the key features of the brand is individuality, which together with fine hand-crafting, allows the brand to create true customer-driven solutions. And to top it off, a few pages of games await inside each young_block notebook!

The company is young and progressive and constantly looking ahead – be it in the materials for their products or the technologies they use. They are one of the proud founders of the Made in Litomyšl association featured in SOFFA 19, and soon the young_block portfolio will include their very own diary. ■ Learn more at youngblock.cz

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LEFT: What can inspire a new notebook? A bad day for example! The cover of a notebook tellingly called Words was created by Jiří’s wife Petra on a day when everything went wrong. So she grabbed a cup of tea and wrote it all down. Petra’s hands create all other young_block products, as she is behind their beautifully crafted binding.

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Editors’ Choice

SPRING NOVELTIES THE LATEST COLLECTION OF FURNITURE, ACCESSORIES, COSMETICS AND CLOTHING EMBODIES THE SPIRIT OF PASTELS – FROM PINK ALL THE WAY TO TURQUOISE! styling: Adéla Kudrnová | photo: company archives

ABOVE: Mizaru sunglasses, Zanzan, zanzan.co.uk and Butik Klára Nademlýnská, 5,750 Kč | Circé doorhandle, design by Bonnemazou-Cambus, www.monobrand.cz, € 160 | Blush 2 in 1 Lips & Cheeks, Douglas Collection, www.douglas.cz, 279 Kč | Hybrid Perenzia rug, design Ctrlzak, www.seletti.it, price upon request

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RIGHT: Head outside for relaxed meals and spend long days at the beach. Casual tropical island living sets the stage for H&M Home this summer with turquoise shades, bohemian details and natural materials.

The summer 2017 collection: metal lantern, € 14.99 | cup, € 7.99 | pillow case, € 7.99 www.hm.com

LEFT AND BELOW: The new SS 2017 Bloomingville collection is inspired by Japanese design traditions with passion for craftsmanship and simple detail. Retro is also back with ever more stunning reinterpretations of classical patterns and signature glazes. www.bloomingville.com Afteroom bar table, Menu, menudesignshop.com, $ 880

SECRET CHAMBER EVEN A CONTEMPORARY INTERIOR CAN CONVEY THE ATMOSPHERE OF A SECRET CHAMBER, WHERE ALL YOUR DREAMS AND DESIRES WILL BE FULFILLED. ALL YOU NEED IS A BIT OF BLACK AND A SPLASH OF GOLD. styling: Adéla Kudrnová & Helena Novotná | photo: company archives

Ecstasy classic tassel leather loafers, eodstyle.com, $ 425 | lipstick from Douglas Collection, www.douglas.cz, 299 Kč | Alba lounge armchair, www.ton.eu, € 1,599 | Lion metal candle holder, www.hm.com, $ 17.99 | Venus balls, Bitcoin Limited Edition, whoopdedoo.me, B 0.09018 | Cast vase, House Doctor, www.royaldesign.fr, € 32 | Chipolo plus connected keychain, www.merci-merci.com, € 35

SOFFA & FRIENDS

CREATIVE EVENTS

SOFFA ORGANISES A WHOLE RANGE OF WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS WITH A FOCUS ON INTERIOR DESIGN, FINE CRAFTS, PHOTOGRAPHY, DIY PROJECTS, COOKING, ART AND OTHER CREATIVE ACTIVITIES. Book your space now at shop.soffamag.com SOFFA SPACE VNITROBLOCK, Tusarova 31, Prague 7, 170 00, Czech Republic info@soffamag.com

SPRING/SUMMER 17

*Where you will ďŹ nd us: BOSS STORE Na Prikope 6, Prague BOSS STORE Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, terminal 1 a 2

Creative People

WHAT IS HÆNKE? A NEW CREATIVE SPACE IN PRAGUE NAMED AFTER A CZECH BOTANIST AND EXPLORER WHO LIVED AT THE TURN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. text: Helena Novotná | photo: Adéla Havelková

HÆNKE FEELS LIKE AN OASIS IN THE MIDDLE OF PRAGUE’S ŽIŽKOV DISTRICT, WHICH IS BETTER KNOWN FOR ITS BARS AND PUBS. THERE ARE WHITE WALLS, LIGHT-COLOURED WOOD FURNITURE AND POTTED PLANTS IN EVERY CORNER. IT IS PRECISELY PLANTS THAT ARE HONOURED AT HÆNKE, WHERE THEY HOST TALKS, WORKSHOPS AND ART INSTALLATIONS FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN KNOWING MORE ABOUT PLANTS AND THEIR HEALING BENEFITS. JULIEN ANTIH AND ALEXANDRA STŘELCOVÁ ARE THE CREATIVE SOULS BEHIND THE UNUSUAL SPACE THAT MARRIES SCIENCE WITH ART.

Eating sustainably grown food, practicing yoga, using natural cosmetics, being gentle to the natural environment – these are all aspects of healthy living that have become a positive trend of today, and perhaps a necessity of the future. More and more people are looking for ways to avoid toxic chemicals in their lives, and for some this includes minimising their exposure to synthetic medicines. But even natural alternatives must be taken wisely and specific rules must be followed. And this is Hænke’s special calling.

Julien Antih, one half of the founding duo, grew up in France and studied pharmacology. Life then took him to London, where he discovered ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants and the varied use of plants across cultures. He is the first to point out, however, that his interest in ethnobotany did not

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turn him against pharmacology, and that synthetic medicines do sometimes have their place. However, there are many instances where a particular plant can be more helpful than a pill in dealing with a headache or with insomnia – and today few people know which plant can heal what ill. Julien and Alexandra lived in several countries in Europe, where they drew inspiration from various experiences, but nowhere did they find a place like Hænke. In contrast to other projects that work with plants and herbs, Hænke does not focus on producing natural cosmetics, but on using plants for their medicinal properties. And why has Julien, a person with an intimate connection to plants and nature, chosen to live in the centre of Prague instead of some bucolic countryside location? So he could bring a bit of nature into the city!

Where did the name originate? The oasis is named after Thaddäus Haenke [Tadeáš Haenke in Czech], a Czech botanist from the turn of the nineteenth century who is not well known despite his great contributions to exploration and science.

The Hænke botanic ‘laboratory’ in Žižkov has been designed with great consideration and attention to detail. The interior is furnished entirely from the Aman Original collection, and therefore also serves as a showroom for this Czech brand selling handmade furniture and accessories. ■ Learn more at www.haenke.cz

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Do It Yourslef

IN HÆNKE’S BOTANICAL ‘LABORATORY’ YOU CAN NOT ONLY LEARN HOW TO BRING MEDICINAL PLANTS INTO EVERYDAY LIFE, BUT AS PART OF THEIR ONGOING WORKSHOPS YOU CAN ALSO MAKE YOUR OWN REMEDY. FOR THIS ISSUE OF SOFFA JULIEN ANTIH PREPARED AN ARNICA AND AMERICAN WITCH HAZEL MASSAGE BALM, WHICH YOU CAN EASILY MAKE AT HOME. THE BALM HELPS WITH SORE FEET AND POOR BLOOD CIRCULATION, AND IS SURE TO BE HANDY AFTER A HARD DAY AT WORK OR WHEN YOU RETURN HOME FROM A STRENUOUS WORKOUT.

DIFFICULTY: medium TIME: 30 minutes (plus time for the infusing process) WHAT YOU NEED: 10 g dried arnica 3 g dried American witch hazel 50% alcohol vegetable glycerine essential oil glass beakers paper filter (not essential) laboratory separator (not essential) glass bottle sieve spoon scales

Begin by making an arnica tincture. Place the dried arnica and alcohol into a glass container and let it soak for several hours or overnight. For each gram of arnica you will need five grams of alcohol. For the next step you have one of two options. If you have a laboratory separator, place the paper filter in it, add the soaked arnica herb (discard the alcohol in which you soaked it), add new alcohol to the same amount, and let the mixture slowly drip into a glass jar. If you don’t have a separator then let your tincture soak in your glass container for another three weeks. Once it has finished soaking, remove all plant remnants and keep only the alcohol tincture.

When the arnica tincture is nearly finished, prepare your infusion of American witch hazel. Simmer the dried plant gently in 250 ml of boiling water for ten minutes and then let it cool. Strain the infusion through a fine sieve to remove all plant remnants, keeping only the infused water.

Mix together 200 ml of the witch hazel infusion with 20 ml of the arnica tincture and add 15 ml of vegetable glycerine. Mix well and finally add a few drops of an essential oil (lavender or rosemary, for example) to help your balm stay fresh. Your very own massage balm is now ready to be used!

Caution: The balm should not be used by people who are allergic to plants from the Asteraceae (daisy) family and by people who have atopic eczema. ■

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Travel

LAND OF DAY AND NIGHT AFTER LAPLAND, FÅRÖ AND ICELAND WE RETURN ONCE AGAIN TO THE NORTH. THIS TIME EVEN FURTHER THAN BEFORE – TO THE ARCTIC DESERT CALLED SVALBARD. text: Helena Novotná | photo: Jan Kaiser, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

HALFWAY BETWEEN NORWAY AND THE NORTH POLE IS THE NORTHERNMOST PERMANENTLY INHABITED PLACE ON OUR PLANET. THE SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO LIES IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, WHICH MEANS THAT IT EXPERIENCES A FEW MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS AND A FEW MONTHS OF COMPLETE SUNLIGHT. WHO WOULD LIVE IN SUCH A PLACE? AND WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LIVE ON LAND THAT IS MORE GLACIER THAN NOT, AND WHERE POLAR BEARS OUTNUMBER PEOPLE?

Icelandic literature from the twelfth century makes reference to Svalbard, but the discovery of the archipelago is credited to the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz, who sighted its coast in 1596. He named it Spitsbergen for the pointed mountains he saw on the horizon, not realising that he had discovered not just an island, but an entire archipelago. Although Spitsbergen is its traditional name, in the 1920s the archipelago’s name changed to Svalbard – meaning ‘cold shore’ – and the name Spitsbergen is now reserved for the largest, and the only permanently settled island.

The name change came after Norway gained sovereignty over the archipelago following the signing of the Svalbard Treaty. Although administered by Norway, the archipelago has a special status and anyone can live and work in Svalbard without special permission or visa. As would then be expected, Svalbard is very diverse culturally, with more than forty different nationalities represented in a total population of 2,500! Another important aspect of the treaty is that other countries, not just Norway, can use and exploit the archipelago’s mineral resources, in particular its black coal.

Russia has taken advantage of this provision and that is why Svalbard feels like two independent worlds, one Norwegian and one Russian.

There were times when Russians accounted for two-thirds of Svalbard’s population.

Today about 500 people live in the Russian area, most of them miners originating from the Ukraine. They all live in Barentsburg, the only Russian mining settlement left from the original three. The other two were Grumant, where only two dilapidated houses now stand, and Pyramiden, a settlement that once housed more than a thousand ► RIGHT AND PREVIOUS SPREAD: The Arctic archipelago known officially as Svalbard lies approximately 1,000 km from the North Pole. Life is not easy there and those who choose to call it their home must work. Unemployment is zero per cent and the local administration counts on nothing else. There are still work opportunities in the mining industry and more recently also in tourism.

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residents but became a ghost town virtually overnight. A visit to Pyramiden is a chilling experience and one of the reasons people visit Svalbard today – in addition to polar bears and the Arctic landscape, of course.

The settlement named for the pyramidal shape of a nearby mountain was established

by Sweden in 1910, but it has belonged to Russia since 1927. The Russians built a mining town there shaped by the aesthetic of Socialist Realism. The town has all the essentials: residential houses, sport and cultural facilities, as well as a bust of Vladimir Lenin, which to this day is the northernmost placed statue in the world. With the fall of the Soviet Union came also the fall of Pyramiden – coal mining was no longer cost-effective and in 1998 the settlement was quickly evacuated. People left everything behind, their furniture and even personal items, just so they could make the departing ship.

Today the abandoned buildings of Pyramiden resemble a scene from Pompeii. It is as if someone had waved a magic wand and all the people had vanished in an instant, leaving everything just as it was in the moment of departure. The only thing that has been added since 1998 is a thick layer of dust. Anyone can visit Pyramiden, but entry into the abandoned buildings is forbidden despite the fact that most are not locked.

The fascinating history of Pyramiden lures more and more visitors, and to accommodate them all a local hotel reopened just a few years ago. The hotel employees are today the only residents of the town.

Every expedition to Svalbard begins in the largest Norwegian settlement named Longyearbyen, which has an airport with regular flights from Oslo and Tromsø. The settlement is named after the American John M. Longyear, who founded a mine there in 1906 and named the town that grew around the mine after himself. Today no mining takes place in Longyearbyen; instead the town serves as the administrative centre for Svalbard and is home to four-fifths of Svalbard’s total population. From a small mining town Longyearbyen has grown into a modern centre with everything one would need or desire: banks, hotels, an airport, a hospital, a library, a cinema and several museums. ► LEFT AND NEXT PAGE: During the height of the Soviet Union the Russian enclave accounted for two-thirds of the residents in Svalbard. Today about five hundred people live in the Russian settlement named Barentsburg, most of them Ukrainian miners who moved there solely for work.

Coal mining in Svalbard is no longer economical for Russia, but even so the mines remain operational thanks to Russian government subsidies. Why? Svalbard is strategic in spite of its demilitarised zone status.

If Russia stopped mining in Svalbard, Russian companies would have to leave the archipelago.

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You won’t find anyone who was born in Svalbard. While Longyearbyen has a hospital, all births must take place in Tromsø on the Norwegian mainland. Similarly, no retirees live in Svalbard – everyone who lives there must work and be independent. The main reason for living in Svalbard is work, and when people finish it they generally return to their original home. In addition to Longyearbyen, people also work in the nearby mining outpost of Sveagruva and the scientific research station Ny-Ålesund. The Arctic climate presents scientists with unique research conditions. The glaciers that cover more than half of the surface area of the archipelago are like giant natural archives – layer upon layer of snow and ice contain information crucial for research on Arctic climate, plant science and many other fields. Thanks to its constant low temperature and tectonic stability Svalbard was chosen in 2008 to be the site of the Global Seed Vault, which houses the world’s largest collection of crop diversity and would be useful in case of a global food crisis.

Although Svalbard may appear to be the land of permanent frost, in comparison to other places located at the same latitude its climate is considered mild. In Russia or Canada, for example, locations at similar latitudes experience temperatures that are twenty degrees colder. The ‘mild’ conditions are due to the West Spitsbergen Current, which warms the waters of the Arctic Ocean around the archipelago. In the winter, temperatures generally hover around -12 to -16 degrees Celsius, while in the summer months they rise above freezing, generally up to around 4 to 5 degrees Celsius. But Svalbard is cold, and only animals that have adapted to such cold conditions are able to survive in this climate: the Spitsbergen reindeer, the Arctic fox and the symbol of the Arctic wild – the polar bear. A preserved Arctic animal greets visitors upon arrival in the airport hall, and more await in restaurants, hotels and other facilities – and if it isn’t the whole animal, then it is the ubiquitous seal or bear skin.

You can encounter a live polar bear almost anywhere in Svalbard, although it is unusual to see one close to a human settlement. Bears mainly eat seals, so they are mostly ► RIGHT, PREVIOUS SPREAD, PAGE 67: The only Svalbard settlement that was not damaged during World War II is the Russian mining town Pyramiden. The ghost town is in a state of decay and its eerie atmosphere draws some of the tourists who visit the archipelago. Pyramiden was hastily evacuated in 1998 and to this day everything remains just as it was twenty years ago.

There is no question that the settlement was developed in the Communist era. To this day the cultural centre is fronted by the world’s northernmost bust of Vladimir Lenin, who looks out over the former central square towards the glacier on the horizon. Pyramiden also hosts the world’s northernmost swimming pool and the northernmost piano, which was nicknamed Red October.

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found along the coast or on ice floes, where they patiently await their next catch. In spite of this it is important to be prepared for a possible encounter and to follow safety rules during expeditions: always keep a clear 365° view, do not camp near the coast, and do not prepare odorous food that could attract bears. And most importantly – have a weapon on hand, but only to be used in self-defence! The polar bear has been on the list of protected animals since 1973 and it is strictly forbidden to hunt it. About three thousand polar bears live on the archipelago today, more than its human inhabitants. No wonder that one of the islands is called Bear Island!

Glaciers, pointy mountains, the Norwegian Longyearbyen and the Russian Barentsburg – each year they all get enveloped in complete darkness for several months. Polar night begins at the end of October, when the sun sets for the winter, not to re-emerge until mid February. During this period the archipelago is shrouded in dark, regardless of whether it is midday or midnight, and the only natural light comes from the glow of the full moon and its reflection off the snowy fields. And where there is polar night in the winter there is also polar day in the summer – otherwise known as midnight sun. In Svalbard the sun doesn’t set between the end of April and the end of August.

When is it best to visit Svalbard? Any time of the year, because each season is completely different from the next and has its unparalleled magic. When in February the sun begins to show after the long polar night ends, life is renewed. With everything still blanketed by snow it is an ideal time for a snowmobile expedition or better yet, dog sledding. Mushing [dog powered transport] is not as physically demanding as it may appear, and experienced mushers will teach you how to lead your own dog sled.

By the end of May the snow has gone and summer begins, lasting till September. The pristine Arctic comes truly alive during this time, and there are several possibilities for how to explore and enjoy it. You can take a trip on a motorised boat or a kayak, go on a hike around one of the settlements, or take off for a multi-day walk along glaciers.

You can also join an expedition in search of fossils, which are found along the coast.

And while nature exploration in Svalbard is second to none, so is a visit to Pyramiden, the mining ghost town. It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than the contrast ► RIGHT AND PREVIOUS SPREAD: Glaciers cover more than half of the land surface in the archipelago and the largest glaciers are found to the east. They are fascinating not only to scientists, but also to adventurous tourists who embark on multi-day glacier walks. Those who are less adventurous or fit can admire glaciers from a boat. It is also from a boat that you are most likely to sight the symbol of Arctic nature – the polar bear – most often spotted along the coast and on ice floes. And it is much safer to watch a bear from the safety of a boat than from a land position!

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between nature’s pristine beauty and the decaying remnants of human habitation.

Finally, what you can’t plan to see but simply must hope for are the legendary polar lights – the aurora borealis. You are most likely to see this spectacular phenomenon when the weather is clear at night during the polar night period, but Svalbard is one of the few places on Earth where polar lights can also be seen during polar night daytime.

Today there are numerous apps that map the probability of sighting an aurora borealis.

There are several different options for accommodation in Svalbard, including hotels, stations and campgrounds. In the heart of Longyearbyen is the hotel Basecamp, and as its name implies, it is an ideal base for an expedition. The rooms are designed in the style of a traditional hunting lodge to the last detail – seal skins, maps on walls, unfinished wood and of course no television! There are also many stations and campgrounds outside the main centre that serve as important rest points for groups undertaking multi-day walks in the Arctic wild. You can overnight in a former radio base or a hunting station, both options serving as take-off points for dog sledding expeditions. Naturally, such stations are homes not only for people, but also for dozens of dogs. A very different kind of accommodation is offered in the Russian settlement Barentsburg, where a few years ago the hotel Pyramiden reopened. It has no seal skins or other reminders of the surrounding Arctic landscape, but it does come in the unique style of Socialist Realism.

Whether you wish to see polar bears in the wild, walk on glaciers, or visit abandoned mining towns, Svalbard is well worth a visit, even in spite of the harsh conditions. Although there are permanent settlements in the archipelago, it feels like humans do not belong there. It is not a place where families pass on their traditions from one generation to the next. It is not possible to be born in Svalbard, and permafrost makes it also impossible to be buried there. Perhaps it is for this reason that the archipelago is more suitable as a home for polar bears and other Arctic animals than it is for us humans. ■

LEFT AND PREVIOUS SPREAD: The difference between Norwegian and Russian settlements is evident at first glance. Longyearbyen, the administrative centre of Svalbard, features colourful wooden houses stacked one next to the other.

Originally a mining town, Longyearbyen has now become the administrative and tourist centre of Svalbard, and mining has shifted to Sveagruva, which translates to ‘Swedish mine’.

When everything is blanketed by snow, the main transport vehicle in Longyearbyen is a snowmobile.

Another option is a dog sled, which can also be used in the summer months. All one need do is change the winter skids for summer wheels.

We thank Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for the photographs used in this travel story.

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Culture

SPIRITS AND THEIR FACES IT SMILES, GRINS OR COMES ACROSS AS FIERCE. FOR MANY CULTURES THE MASK REPRESENTS A POWERFUL INSTRUMENT OF MAGIC, A KEY TO AN INVISIBLE WORLD THAT REVEALS MORE THAN IT HIDES. text: Kateřina Hanáčková | photo: Arcimboldo.cz archive

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IN A DEEP TRANCE A SHAMAN MAKES CONTACT WITH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. ACCOMPANIED BY RHYTHMIC DRUMMING HE REACHES A NEW LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS, AS THOUGH TUNING IN TO THE ‘FREQUENCY’ OF THE UNDERWORLD. WHETHER ASKING THE SPIRITS FOR CONTINUED BLESSINGS AS PART OF AN ANNUAL RITUAL, OR PLEADING FOR THE REVERSAL OF PUNISHMENT SENT DOWN UPON HIS PEOPLE, THE SHAMAN‘S FACE IS ALWAYS ADORNED WITH A RITUAL MASK. RATHER THAN A DISGUISE, THE MASK IS A MEANS FOR TRANSFORMING INTO ANOTHER BEING, AS REAL AS THE SHAMAN HIMSELF.

It began with death. When an old person departed in times past, the clan mourned an irreplaceable loss. The mourners believed, however, that if they raised the deceased’s spirit with magic, the departed would bestow protection upon them. To secure the protection they needed, mourners kept their ancestors close – literally. They revered the skulls of their ancestors and handed them down from one generation to the next.

Over generations the inherited skulls came to symbolise the home of the ancestral spirits and were adorned with mosaics of fruit, carved ornaments, pigments and hair.

In time they morphed into a generic ancestral symbol – a mask with a human face.

Some African ethnic groups have as many different expressions for masks as the Inuit people have for snow. While the Christian faith saw in a mask the frightening disguise of evil, in animist cultures masks have played an important role in rituals and celebrations since time immemorial. During masked rituals the souls of the departed join the living and their arrival is celebrated in various forms: with night-long festivities in which dancers are clad in fantastic costumes, or with rituals involving destruction and sacrifice.

Some masks evoke the spirits of animals and others evoke fear. Their beautiful artistry arouses strong emotions, and artists and collectors like Pablo Picasso have been greatly influenced by their often abstract form. When donning a mask a shaman looses his own persona so that the invited spirit can enter his body. The spirit overtakes the shaman’s body to such a degree that he is unrecognisable – his speech, movements and actions are not his own. No longer a mere mortal, he becomes a medium through which the invisible world can be conjured in the light of a sacred fire. ■ We are grateful to John Caulkins, Galerie Arcimboldo, Kateřina Hanáčková and Mr and Mrs Hejtmánek for their assistance with this article.

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MASK OF A WOMAN BENIN | LATE NINETEENTH / EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

WHEN THE YORUBA PEOPLE WANT TO BRING ON THE RAIN, ENSURE FERTILITY OR ERADICATE DISEASE, THEY ANNOUNCE THE START OF GELEDE – A MASKED RITUAL TO HONOUR GODDESSES AND RESPECTED LOCAL WOMEN. OLDER WOMEN IN PARTICULAR ARE REVERED AMONG THE YORUBA – THEIR AGE SYMBOLISING MYSTICAL POWERS, SECRET KNOWLEDGE AND SPIRITUAL STRENGTH. WOMEN ARE CELEBRATED AS THE BEARERS OF THE ‘SECRET OF THE ORIGIN’, MAGICAL BEINGS WITH THE POWER TO CREATE AND DESTROY. DURING GELEDE ELABORATELY COSTUMED DANCERS MOVE THROUGH THE NIGHT TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THESE WOMEN AND TO APPEASE THEM IN THE HOPE THAT THEY WILL USE THEIR POWERS ONLY FOR GOOD. ‚

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MASK FROM THE SEPIK RIVER PAPUA NEW GUINEA | NINETEENTH CENTURY

PAPUA NEW GUINEA IS A WORLD ONTO ITSELF – ITS INHABITANTS SPEAK MORE THAN 900 LANGUAGES AND EACH OF THE MANY CULTURAL GROUPS REVERES ITS OWN DEITIES AND CREATES UNIQUE FORMS OF ART. MASKS MADE BY PEOPLE LIVING ALONG THE LOWER REACHES OF THE SEPIK RIVER ARE USUALLY DECORATED WITH RED PIGMENT. NOT ALL ARE INTENDED TO BE WORN BY THEIR CREATORS – SOME ADORN THE BOWS OF CANOES WHILE OTHERS SERVE AS GOOD LUCK CHARMS. ONLY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN INITIATED ARE ALLOWED TO WEAR MASKS DURING RITUALS. WOMEN ARE NOT ONLY FORBIDDEN TO WEAR MASKS BUT MUST HIDE FROM THEM, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT BEING USED FOR THEIR RITUAL PURPOSE.

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PROTECTOR OF KNOWLEDGE MONGOLIA | TWENTIETH CENTURY

TO CLEANSE THE WORLD AND ENSURE THE GOODWILL OF FRIENDLY GODS, BUDDHIST MONKS IN MONGOLIA PERFORM MYSTICAL DANCES THAT ARE MORE THAN 1,300 YEARS OLD. DURING THESE DANCES – KNOWN AS TSAM – EVIL IS CAPTURED INTO A FIGURINE AND ABSORBED INTO THE MASTER OF THE CEREMONY, SO HE CAN SHOW EVIL THE PEACEFUL PATH. THE MASK FITTED WITH RED BEADS REPRESENTS ANGRY GODS AND REMINDS US THAT EVIL VEILS THE PURITY OF THE HUMAN MIND JUST AS CLOUDS VEIL THE SUN. AS NOT MANY BOYS ENTER THE MONASTIC LIFE IN PRESENT TIMES, MANY FEAR THAT THE TSAM DANCE WILL DISAPPEAR OVER THE COMING CENTURY.

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THE FEMALE DEMON KAGURA HANNYA JAPAN | MEIJI PERIOD (1868–1912)

THE FEMALE DEMON WITH SHARP HORNS AND A SINISTER GRIN HAS BEEN PART OF MANY PERFORMANCES OF THE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE THEATRE NOH. IT DEPICTS THE SOUL OF A WOMAN WHOSE JEALOUSY AND OBSESSION HAS TRANSFORMED HER INTO AN EVIL SPIRIT. A WHITE HANNYA MASK PORTRAYS A WOMAN OF ARISTOCRATIC BACKGROUND, WHILE A RED ONE REPRESENTS A COMMONER. THE MASK’S MENACING GRIN COMMUNICATES ANGER, BUT THERE IS ALSO AN ELEMENT OF SORROW AND TORMENT. WHEN AN ACTOR LOOKS DIRECTLY AT AN AUDIENCE, THE MASK APPEARS FIERCE, BUT WHEN THE HEAD IS TILTED DOWN, IT LOOKS SORROWFUL, ALMOST AS IF IT WERE CRYING.

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KIFWEBE MASK DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO | FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE LUBA PEOPLE HAVE LIVED IN TODAY’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO FOR MORE THAN 1,500 YEARS. ART IS HIGHLY PRIZED AMONG THE LUBA – THOSE WHO ARE UNABLE TO HUNT OR FARM ARE TRAINED AS ARTISANS. ARTISANS ARE THOUGHT TO USE MAGIC IN THEIR CRAFT AND THUS ARE HIGHLY REVERED. KIFWEBE MASKS FEATURE IN NEW MOON CELEBRATIONS BUT ALSO IN OTHER RITUALS: WHEN WELCOMING VISITORS, HEALING THE SICK, CELEBRATING THE FIRST RAINS OR EVEN MARKING THE BEGINNING OF THE BUILDING OF A NEW ROAD. THE RITUAL HONOURS THE ‘UNDEAD’ AND APPEALS TO THEM FOR ASSISTANCE IN DEALING WITH EVERYDAY STRUGGLES.

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KPELE DANCE MASK IVORY COAST | FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE ROUND KPELE MASK WITH EYES IN THE SHAPE OF RAIN DROPS IS ONE OF SEVERAL MASKS WORN IN THE GOLI SPIRIT DANCE OF THE BAOULÉ PEOPLE. IT DEPICTS A MINOR SPIRIT ASSOCIATED WITH THE JUNIOR RANK OF MALE DANCERS. THE HORNS OF THE MASK REPRESENT THE SPIRIT OF THE BUFFALO, THE MYTHOLOGICAL PROTECTOR OF THE DESERT. THE DAY-LONG GOLI DANCE IS PERFORMED TO MARK THE FUNERALS OF ELDERS, AS A RITUAL TO WARD OFF THREATS TO A VILLAGE, OR SIMPLY AS VILLAGE ENTERTAINMENT. THE WHOLE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATES IN THESE RITUAL CELEBRATIONS. MUSIC IS PLAYED ON SPECIAL INSTRUMENTS AND PEOPLE CELEBRATE WITH SONG AND DANCE.

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MASK OF TRANSFORMATION BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA | 2014

A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE INSPIRED THE CANADIAN FIRST NATIONS ARTIST RON TELEK TO DEDICATE HIS CREATIVE WORK TO THE THEME OF TRANSFORMATION. IN EMBARKING ON THIS JOURNEY HE HAS BEEN INSPIRED BY THE TRADITIONS OF HIS PEOPLE – THE NISGA’A NATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. THE CARVED MASK, BOTH A CULT ARTEFACT AND A WORK OF ART, DEPICTS THE SPIRIT OF THE GREAT SHAMAN. IN A DEEP TRANCE THE SHAMAN TRAVELS BACK IN TIME TO THE MOMENT WHEN ALL LIVINGS THINGS WERE CREATED TO WITNESS ANIMAL SPIRITS AT THE TIME OF THEIR ORIGIN. THE MASK PRESENTS NEW LIFE IN ITS RAW FORM – A SNAPSHOT TAKEN DURING THE MICROSECOND OF THE WORLD’S CREATION.

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Decor

PORCELAIN – THE STORYTELLER AT OUR RECENT MAESTROKATASTROF WORKSHOP WE LEARNT HOW TO CREATE A PERSONALISED DINNER SET USING A DECORATIVE TECHNIQUE OF TRANSFER ON PORCELAIN. text: Helena Novotná | styling: Lenka Hlaváčová | photo: Adéla Havelková

IN THE LAST ISSUE WE HAD THE PLEASURE OF INTRODUCING THE ARTIST SILVIE LUBĚNOVÁ, ALIAS MAESTROKATASTROF, AND ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES WE PROUDLY FEATURE THE RESULT OF THE WORKSHOP WE HOSTED WITH HER. PARTICIPANTS AT THE WORKSHOP GOT THEIR HANDS ON CZECH PORCELAIN FROM DUBÍ AND UNDER THE MAESTRA‘S SKILFUL ORCHESTRATION THEY CREATED THE MOST ORIGINAL DINNER SET IN THE WORLD – AT LEAST IN OUR OPINION! WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT? A LOT! LEARN ABOUT UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AT WWW.SOFFAMAG.COM

Photo Essay

MYSTERIES OF THE FACE BEAUTY, SENSUALITY, DESIRE: DISCOVER THE ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FACE WITH THE PERFUMERY DOUGLAS. partner for the article: Douglas | text: Tereza Škoulová | make-up: Aleksandra Sidorina models: Jacqueline Amadou Titi and Barbora Procházková / Scouteen post-production: Kristýna Gottwaldová | photo: Lucie Desmond

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THE FACE IS ONE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY. THE SOFT SKIN HIDES FOURTEEN BONES, FOUR PAIRS OF CAVITIES AND FORTY-THREE MUSCLES, TWELVE OF WHICH ARE NEEDED TO MAKE A SMILE. THE FACE IS KEY TO IDENTIFICATION, REVEALS OUR GENDER, RACE AND AGE, AND COMMUNICATES COMPLEX HUMAN EMOTION. LEARNING FACE RECOGNITION IS ONE OF OUR FIRST DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES, AND WHEN THIS ABILITY DOES NOT WORK DUE TO A CONDITION CALLED PROSOPAGNOSIA, THOSE WHO ARE AFFECTED MUST USE VOICE TO TELL PEOPLE APART.

A person’s face tells a lot about the character that hides behind it and about the person’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Traditional Japanese and Chinese medicines use the face as a key diagnostic tool, and even Western medicine uses certain facial attributes to diagnose some ailments. The face can reveal a lot – that a person is suffering from a fever or a cold, or that he or she imbibes or frowns too much!

Thanks to its ability to reveal and conceal, the face has featured in mythological and religious iconography since the dawn of time. Favoured in art and literature, it is often explored in the juxtaposition of a beautiful face attached to a corrupt soul. The face is also an important tool of nonverbal communication – every wrinkled nose, raised eyebrow and perked ear has its distinct meaning.

Besides its ability to express thoughts and feelings, the face is also the centre of four senses: sight, hearing, smell and taste. Sight is such an important element of perception that it requires half of the brain’s capacity to function, causing eye muscles to be the most active muscles in the human body. Hearing helps us communicate, learn and gain experiences, and the hearing organ is also the centre of our balance. Smell is the oldest and most sensitive of the senses. People can recognise as many as 5,000 scents – men apparently love the smell of breakfast while women prefer the scent of a newborn – and out of all the senses people remember a scent the best. Smell is also key to taste, for when you cannot smell food, you also cannot taste it. And although we ‘experience’ taste in the mouth, the sense is actually the result of neural processes in the brain.

People have been adorning themselves since time immemorial, highlighting their best features and detracting from their flaws. Women have always been more forward about make-up than men, guided by the belief that even natural beauty can be enhanced. Join us and the perfumery Douglas on a journey to uncover the mystery behind the beauty of a woman’s face. ■

CHEEKS – BLUSH | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; Power of Light foundation, 469 Kč; Mini All In One Nude eye shadow palette, 419 Kč; foundation contouring palette, 369 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; redness corrector brightener, 469 Kč; Cotton Candy hand cream, 109 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč; lipbalm, 139 Kč; Tutu nail polish, 129 Kč; medium brown eyebrow pencil, 239 Kč; Mattissim Senorita, Lechapee Ted and Libertine Smile lip gloss, 279 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; White is White eye pencil, 199 Kč; Pinky Light corrector, 379 Kč

NOSE – SMELL | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; Power of Light foundation, 469 Kč; Mini All In One Nude eye shadow palette, 419 Kč; foundation contouring palette, 369 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; redness corrector brightener, 469 Kč; Cotton Candy hand cream, 109 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč; lipbalm, 139 Kč; Tutu nail polish, 129 Kč; Mattissim Libertine Smile lip gloss, 279 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; White is White eye pencil, 199 Kč; Pinky Light corrector, 379 Kč; Khol Kajal Ultra Wonderblack eye pencil, 279 Kč

FACE – SENSES | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; foundation contouring palette, 369 Kč; Quattro Brown and Black eye shadow, 419 Kč; bronzing powder SPF 15, 479 Kč; Too Tan foam foundation, 419 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; Corail cheek rouge, 279 Kč; Mini My Favorite 02 eye shadow, 229 Kč; Khol Kajal Ultra Wonderblack eye pencil, 279 Kč; Beige Foncé corrector, 379 Kč; light brown eyebrow pencil, 239 Kč; dark brown 1 eyebrow gel, 279 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč

‘FALSE FACE MUST HIDE WHAT THE FALSE HEART DOTH KNOW.’

CHEEKS – BLUSH Unease. The mysterious blush, flush with joy, darkened by dismay. Rest your face on your fingers, hide it in your palms, lost in thought. Brush the ends of your hair over your face, a calming vice. Feel your smile emerge, and the way your face rounds. An interplay of shadows with every move of your head. Look determinedly, let the cheekbones speak. And then the softer features again, desire.

William Shakespeare

NOSE – SMELL A familiar sweet scent. Breathe it in and exhale audibly. Breathe deeply and let the scent wash over you, again and again. Recall past moments that have brought fourth this lovely fragrance – breakfast served in a meadow, a Sunday afternoon, candlelight dinner. Scent so intoxicating you can almost taste it. Giddiness and the flavour of a memory. The desire to live it, to breathe it again.

FACE – SENSES Fine features as if carefully sketched with a pencil – the face of a woman. Curious, wandering, lively eyes. Pucker the nose in pensive thought. Blush. A discreet sleight of hand to fix an errant lock of hair. Moisten your lips, open them slowly, don’t speak. Laugh and flash your strong beautiful teeth. Rest your head in your hand, search the ceiling with your eyes, smile.

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‘DEFECTS OF THE MIND, LIKE THOSE OF THE FACE, GROW WORSE WITH AGE.’

MOUTH – TASTE … smile. Speak, plead, laugh at a joke.

Lick your lips in anticipation. Bite those impatient lips. Finally! Open them gently, breathe out, delight in the feeling. Taste as a distant memory, one of the first you experienced, still at your grandmother’s.

Slightly sweet, slightly sour, a little salty.

Soft, warm, relished with every taste bud.

Lick your lips again and dream.

François de La Rochefoucauld

EYE – SIGHT A searching glance attracted by a luscious aroma. Zero in on the spot, the shape. Round and soft. Golden colour, lines resembling gentle hills. Blink to suppress the tears beginning to well. Find the shortest route between the tables, passing a couple with their coffee on the left, a lady with her tea on the right.

Implore the waiter with your glance, bat your lashes, express your desire …

EAR – HEARING The crackle of crust cut with a knife.

The soft sound of a morsel pulled gently apart by fingers. Put the rest on the plate, listen to the conversation, awaken. The distant ting of a spoon meeting a cup, the sound of coffee grinding, the hushed talk. The silent movement of knife in butter. The rhythmic buttering of toast.

The sound of chewing and the awkward click of your tongue before you swallow.

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MOUTH – TASTE | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; foundation contouring palette, 369 Kč; bronzing powder SPF 15, 479 Kč; Too Tan foam foundation, 419 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; Corail cheek rouge, 279 Kč; Khol Kajal Ultra Wonderblack eye pencil, 279 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč

EYE – SIGHT | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; Power of Light foundation, 469 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč; redness corrector brightener, 469 Kč; Rose Nacre corrector, 279 Kč; Mattissim Libertine Smile lip gloss, 279 Kč; Le Grand Saut cheek rouge, 349 Kč; Smoothie Framboise lipstick, 299 Kč; Smoothie Groseille lip contour pencil, 149 Kč

EAR – HEARING | MAKEUP FROM THE DOUGLAS COLLECTION | WWW.DOUGLAS.CZ: eye shadow base primer, 259 Kč; foundation contouring palette, 369 Kč; Quattro Brown and Black eye shadow, 419 Kč; bronzing powder SPF 15, 479 Kč; Too Tan foam foundation, 419 Kč; Aquarelle Powder cheek rouge, 449 Kč; Corail cheek rouge, 279 Kč; Mini My Favorite 02 eye shadow, 229 Kč; White is White eye pencil, 199 Kč; Beige Foncé corrector, 379 Kč; medium brown eyebrow pencil, 239 Kč; dark brown eyebrow gel, 279 Kč; facial gel cream, 559 Kč; Aqua Focus facial water, 419 Kč

SOFFA NOW IN CZECH! SOFFA – THE MAGAZINE THAT INSPIRES READERS THE WORLD OVER – IS NOW PUBLISHED IN TWO LANGUAGE VERSIONS: ENGLISH AND CZECH. Learn more at www.soffamag.com and www.soffamag.cz

World Towers

REACHING TO THE STARS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO REACH THE STARS SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. WHETHER DRIVEN BY THE DESIRE TO CONNECT WITH GOD OR TO DISCOVER THE GREAT BEYOND, THE JOURNEY UP IS LIKELY TO SEND CHILLS DOWN YOUR SPINE. text: Patrik Florián | illustration: Lenka Hlaváčová | photo: Adéla Havelková

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THE FIRST TOWER IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN BUILT TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO. THEN CAME THE ZIGGURATS OF THE BABYLONIANS AND THE PYRAMIDS OF THE MAYA AND THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. TODAY WE FOLLOW IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS BY BUILDING CITIES FROM REINFORCED CONCRETE THAT REACH HIGH INTO THE CLOUDS. IS IT ABOUT GAINING PERSPECTIVE OR ABOUT CONSTRUCTING SOMETHING GIANT TO MAKE US FEEL INSIGNIFICANT? OR IS IT JUST A RECORD-BREAKING COMPETITION?

‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth,’ so says the Old Testament. The Tower of Babel was intended to reach the stars, not in honour of God, but of the human race and its unity. In time people built defence towers, church towers and bell towers, and with the popularity of romanticism we learnt to enjoy look-out towers and fairy tales about princesses locked in castle towers. The twentieth century saw the birth of an entirely new kind of tower – the telecommunications tower. Tall buildings became shining city symbols and tributes to the power of human ingenuity. Today’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, reaches a gasp-inducing height of 828 metres. It is only a matter of time before it is surpassed by yet another ambitious architect. ■

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GOLDEN EYE 361 LEGO PIECES SYDNEY TOWER, AUSTRALIA

Sydney Tower Eye, also known as Centrepoint, stands at 309 metres and is the second tallest structure in the southern hemisphere.

Boasting a revolving restaurant, the tower’s golden eye observation deck is reached by an elevator in a mere 45 seconds and can hold as many as 950 visitors.

LEANING BEAUTY 345 LEGO PIECES TOWER OF PISA, ITALY

It was meant to be the tallest bell tower of its time, but a year after construction began the white marble tower started to lean. Once at risk of collapse, the twelfth century tower was recently stabilised thanks to a large-scale restoration effort, which has reduced its lean to the current four metres.

BURJ KHALIFA, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

333 LEGO PIECES

RECORD HOLDER IN THE CLOUDS The current world record holder is 828 metres tall and weighs 500,000 tonnes. Its construction required 110,000 tonnes of concrete, 55,000 tonnes of steel, and 22 million person hours. The mega-tall skyscraper boasts 163 floors clad with 24,348 windows.

SPACE NEEDLE, SEATTLE, USA

57 LEGO PIECES

COSMIC POINT

The 184-metre tower weighing 9,550 tonnes is the symbol of Seattle and a handy orientation landmark. Thanks to its incredibly strong foundation the Space Needle can withstand winds of 320 kilometres per hour and earthquakes up to the magnitude of 9. 1.

IRON LADY 321 LEGO PIECES EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS, FRANCE

The iconic tower stands at 324 metres and is comprised of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron. On hot sunny days the tower can grow by 18 centimetres, and the tip can sway by 12 centimetres in high wind.

The tower’s metal components are re-finished every seven years.

SPRING/SUMMER 17

*Where you will ďŹ nd us: BOSS STORE Na Prikope 6, Prague BOSS STORE Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, terminal 1 a 2

Architecture

POP-UP HOUSE MYSTERIOUS. UNEXPECTED. EPHEMERAL. THE LITTLE HOUSE FROM STUDIO H3T IS PART ARCHITECTURE AND PART ART INSTALLATION, AND IT RAISES MANY QUESTIONS. text: Helena Novotnรก | photo: BoysPlayNice

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THIS SPREAD: What is it? What hides inside? And how do you get up there? The little black house hovers mysteriously in the air, offering to reveal its secrets only to the playful and adventurous amongst us.

THE DOORS OF THE LEVITATING HOUSE ARE OPEN TO ALL, YET IT IS NOT EASY TO GET INSIDE. THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO PLAY THE GAME CONCEIVED BY THE DESIGNERS OF THE WEIGHTLESS LITTLE HOUSE MUST FIND THE LADDER HIDDEN NEARBY – AND ALSO A BIT OF COURAGE. THEN CLIMB UP TO THE CURIOUS DWELLING THAT HOVERS THREE METRES ABOVE THE GROUND.

Of course the house does not really levitate, however puzzling that may sound.

It hangs by steel cables attached to the arch of an unfinished bridge from the early part of the twentieth century, which stands on a former military training ground called Červeňák in the town of Pardubice. It is a simple design with a saddle roof, the same design little children know how to draw. The colour palette is minimalist – monochromatic black blankets not only the exterior but also the interior of the wooden structure. Although the little house was never conceived as a place for a long stay, it has been furnished with a table, chairs, a small wood stove and even a sleeping loft.

For those able to enter the house with the use of the hidden ladder, the chairs offer a prized place for resting and floating.

Established in 2009 by Vít Šimek and Štěpán Řehoř, the Prague-based architectural studio H3T Architects has always focused on projects as unusual as the little levitating house. Early on they worked mostly with small wooden structures that were sited in interesting locations and gave the projects a social purpose – to invite visitors or passers-by to stop and ponder the scenes. Saunas and riverside spas are among the studio’s favourite designs, and they are well represented in their portfolio. A common element of many of the studio’s creations is their temporary nature, and this is also true for the little levitating house, which was removed in January 2017 after floating under the bridge for a period of two months.

Temporary structures challenge our notion that architecture should be about something permanent, and they often serve as a kind of manifesto aimed to ignite debate about public space. Exhibition pavilions are another classic exemplar of temporary structures, important enough to be designed by architecture luminaries such as Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas, who have all worked on temporary pavilions for London’s Serpentine Gallery, for example. While one may lament not being able to visit the levitating black house any more, for the architects of H3T the ephemeral structure symbolises freedom to experiment, innovate and push boundaries a little bit further. ■

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STOKKE TRIPP TRAPP THE STOKKE TRIPP TRAPP® STOOL WAS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE THE RIGHT ERGONOMIC SUPPORT SO YOUR CHILD CAN BE COMFORTABLY SEATED AT THE DINNER TABLE AND ENGAGE WITH YOU AND THE REST OF THE FAMILY.

MYBABYSTORE s.r.o.

Drahobejlova 13, 190 00 Praha 9 www.mybabystore.cz

Optical Illusion

DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES! SOMETIMES WE DON’T SEE WHAT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES, BUT RATHER AN IMAGE WE HAVE CONSTRUCTED IN OUR BRAIN. WHAT IS BEHIND THIS PHENOMENON? text: Adéla Kudrnová | photo: Shutterstock.com

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THIS PAGE: Fix your gaze at the black spot in the middle for a few seconds. The edges of the surrounding circle will slowly begin to fade away.

AN ISSUE DEDICATED TO SECRETS AND MYSTERIES WOULD BE INCOMPLETE WITHOUT A FEATURE ON ONE OF THE GREATEST MYSTERIES OF ALL – THE HUMAN BRAIN. ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES WE PRESENT SEVERAL OPTICAL ILLUSIONS AS PROOF THAT OUR BRAIN HAS DEVELOPED MECHANISMS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD FASTER THAN OUR EYES CAN IN REALITY PROCESS IT. FASCINATING INDEED!

An optical illusion is essentially an inaccurate perception of reality, in which the eye scans a particular image but the brain interprets it differently. The human retina has over 100 million photoreceptors that change light rays into electrical impulses and send them to the brain via the optic nerve. In one location, where the optic nerve leaves the eye in the direction of the cortex, there is a two millimetre ‘blind’ spot with no photoreceptors. But the blind spot is not the reason for our faulty perception – it is our brain that is playing tricks on us. When interpreting visual stimuli our brain uses past learnt experiences and assesses input from other sense organs to essentially jump to a conclusion. It is therefore possible to perceive the same image differently in different situations. ■

PREVIOUS PAGE: The Kanizsa triangle is an optical illusion based on contrast. Our brain connects implied contours into a complete shape, thus perceiving a white triangle where none exists.

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THIS PAGE: Look at her nose for ten seconds and then look at a wall or some other light surface and blink rapidly. The image will appear projected on the wall. This is due to the residual activity in your retina following its stimulation.

THIS PAGE: In addition to the illusion of looking into a deep corridor, the right side of the square appears to be larger than the left, because its outer edge is more pronounced than the outer edge of the left side of the square.

THIS PAGE: Moving optical illusions make us see a moving picture when the eye is actually looking at a static image, because the movement is created in our brain. The above image is similar to the famous moving picture known as Rotating Snakes by the Japanese professor of psychology Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

DIY Magic

THE SOFFA LABORATORY CHEMISTRY IS AN ENTERTAINING, MYSTERIOUS AND SOMETIMES DANGEROUS SCIENCE. IF YOU ARE INTRIGUED BY CHEMISTRY, YOU CAN FEED YOUR CURIOSITY RIGHT AT HOME. ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES WE PRESENT THE MOST FUN EXPERIMENTS! text: Adéla Kudrnová | styling: Lenka Hlaváčová | photo: Adéla Havelková

LAVA LAMP MAKE YOUR OWN LAVA LAMP AND BE MESMERISED BY A COLOURFUL BUBBLE DANCE. WHERE DO THEY COME FROM AND WHY DO THEY RISE TO THE TOP? A GREAT EXPERIMENT EXPLORING THE DENSITY OF LIQUIDS!

DIFFICULTY: simple TIME: 3 minutes to prepare 3 minutes to play WHAT YOU NEED: oil vinegar (8% acetic acid) sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) food colouring jar or another translucent container small cup spoon

THE EXPERIMENT: Pour one tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate into the container and fill the rest with oil.

In the small cup, colour the vinegar with food colouring and then add a total of one tablespoon of the coloured vinegar to the container.

Now watch the chemical reaction, which resembles what happens in a lava lamp: the vinegar reacts with the baking soda and creates carbon dioxide (CO₂). Carbon dioxide coats the vinegar drops and thereby lowers their average density, making them rise to the top. Vinegar and oil don’t mix, which is why oil is a good medium to demonstrate how the vinegar bubbles rise slowly to the top. Once the bubbles reach the surface, carbon dioxide releases into the air and the freed vinegar sinks back to the bottom because its density is now higher than the density of oil. ►

LEFT: Pineapple jar, design by Tadeáš Podracký, Cihelna Concept Store Prague, 15,800 Kč | Little Joseph suricate, design by Antonín Tomášek, eshop.qubus.cz, 1,780 Kč | wine decanter, stylist’s own

PHARAOH'S SNAKE A TWISTING, SQUIRMING SNAKE EMERGES OUT OF A BURNING PILE OF ASH. AN UNBELIEVABLE EXPERIMENT SURE TO PLEASE CHILDREN AND ADULTS ALIKE. A WORD OF CAUTION – YOU WILL BE PLAYING WITH FIRE!

DIFFICULTY: medium (caution, you are playing with fire) TIME: 10 minutes to prepare 15 minutes to play WHAT YOU NEED: ash from charcoal or normal coal ethanol sugar sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) ceramic or glass bowl spoon matches

THE EXPERIMENT: Pour the ash into a bowl and make a small well in the centre. Prepare a mixture of sugar and baking soda with a ratio of 9 g sugar for 1 g of baking soda. Pour the mixture into the small well in the bowl of ash.

Gently sprinkle the ethanol over the ash so that the entire surface is damp. Light the ash with a burning skewer.

The sugar and baking soda mixture will begin to awaken a pharaoh’s snake.

Watch the chemical reaction in which the burning ethanol changes into carbon dioxide and water. This reaction releases heat. When heated, sodium bicarbonate breaks down to form sodium carbonate and carbon dioxide.

Sugar (carbohydrate) caramelises when heated and then solidifies in the air. Carbon dioxide fills it out, resulting in the slowly growing body of a snake.

You can increase the speed with which the snake will grow by adding more baking soda to the mixture. ►

LEFT: Bubbles bowl, design by Rony Plesl, Bomma, 750 Kč | Born Broken vase, design by Jakub Berdych, eshop.qubus.cz, 13,200 Kč | Juicy Orange juicer, design by Aleksandra Stencel, DOX by Qubus, 3,850 Kč

DRY ICE FOG ADD TO THE ATMOSPHERE OF YOUR NEXT PARTY WITH SOME HOMEMADE FOG! IT’S VERY SIMPLE AND VERY EFFECTIVE – ALL YOU NEED IS SOME DRY ICE AND WATER. BUT BE CAREFUL WITH FROSTBITE, VENTILATION AND STORAGE!

DIFFICULTY: medium (caution needed to prevent frostbite) TIME: 5 minutes to prepare 15 minutes to play WHAT YOU NEED: dry ice hot water plastic or glass container ladle towel

THE EXPERIMENT: Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide (CO2) with a temperature of less than -78.5 °C, which is why you must handle it carefully to avoid frostbite! Interestingly, at -78.5 °C dry ice sublimates from a solid to a gas without going through an intermediate liquid state. You can find dry ice at www.partyled.cz or www.linde-gas. cz. You will need a special box for transport.

With a ladle put some dry ice into a bowl. We recommend you put a towel under your bowl because once you start to sublimate the dry ice, condensation could dampen the surface under the bowl.

Gently pour hot water over the dry ice. We recommend about two litres of water for two kilograms of dry ice.

The water should be just hot, not boiling. When the hot water makes contact with the ice, the ice will begin to sublimate, creating a mysterious fog.

Caution: To avoid frostbite, do not touch the dry ice with your bare hands. ■

LEFT: Glass City, design by Michaela Tomišková | DOX by Qubus, 48,000 Kč | Bandaska vase, design by Dechem, DOX by Qubus, 5,100 Kč, Ceremony candle holder, www.butlers.cz, 119 Kč

LAFERRARI APERTA LIMITED EDITION MODEL CELEBRATING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ITALIAN CAR MAKER

THE LEGENDARY FERRARI IS CELEBRATING ITS SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR. TO MARK THE OCCASION FERRARI HAS RELEASED A LIMITED EDITION MODEL – THE LAFERRARI APERTA – AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO THE MOST LOYAL CUSTOMERS. JUST 200 LAFERRARI APERTAS HAVE BEEN MADE AND OFFERED TO FERRARI FANS WHO ALREADY OWN AT LEAST FIVE OTHER FERRARIS. IN CZECHIA THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON WHO QUALIFIES.

The open-top super car boasts a total power output of 708 kW (963 hp) and has a top speed of 350 km/h.

The 12-cylinder 6.3 litre engine has a base power output of 800 hp, coupled with an additional 163 hp from the hybrid KERS system famous from Formula 1. The LaFerrari Aperta can go from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds and can reach 200 km/h in another 4.2 seconds. That’s fast! www.ferrari70.com www.scuderiapraha.cz Scuderia Praha a. s. is the only official distributor of Ferraris and Maseratis in the Czech Republic. The Scuderia dealership has been selling and servicing the Italian sports and luxury cars for ten years.

photo: Michael Kudela / Scuderia Praha

Utterly Czech

HEDGEHOG IN THE CAGE THIS PUZZLE IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SOLVE IT, THE HEDGEHOG CONTINUES TO HOLD ON TO ITS SECRET – FOR ALMOST EIGHTY YEARS NOW. text: Helena Stiessová | photo: company archive

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When in August 1940 the Czech magazine Young Herald featured an illustration in which a group of boys from the Rapid Arrows club looked intently at a curious mechanical puzzle, it created a sensation among the magazine’s readers. Named aptly Hedgehog in the Cage, the spiky sphere ‘locked’ in a perforated cylinder was no ordinary logic puzzle. In the gripping Rapid Arrows comics story Mystery of the Conundrum, the hedgehog was the lost symbol of the Vonts, a secret society of boys living in a fictitious Prague quarter called the Place of Execution. Years later it reappeared, but only as a drawing on the wall. What was it hiding?

The creator of the story was the legendary Jaroslav Foglar, whose name is even today synonymous with young readers’ adventure stories. The puzzle began to be manufactured shortly after the successful comic was published, first from wood and later from metal, faithful to the original Jan Fischer illustration. Today the puzzle comes in a wide range of options. Foglar himself owned a hedgehog puzzle, but his puzzle mysteriously disappeared from an exhibition in 1997. It was not, however, the original prototype of the hedgehog puzzle, as the idea for the puzzle was found to have originated in the USA in the nineteenth century. Jaroslav Foglar never revealed the inspiration for his story. Another secret perhaps?

It is common knowledge that the hedgehog’s spiky sphere was hollow and hid the plans for a flying bicycle invention. The inventor was the locksmith’s apprentice Jan Tleskač, whose secret invention led to his untimely death under mysterious circumstances. Although we now know how the story ends, the mystery of the puzzle seems to endure. The hedgehog lives on, winding onto itself the strands of people’s puzzling life stories. If you get lost in the Mystery of the Conundrum – whether for the first or the fiftieth time – its spell is sure to keep you captive. ■

LEFT: Interested in getting your own hedgehog so you can practice for the annual Jan Tleskač Memorial competition, where the fastest champions in freeing the hedgehog meet? Try jezcivkleci.cz or Sdružení přátel Jaroslava Foglara [Friends of Jaroslav Fogel Association]. Be warned, however, that the current record is under three seconds …

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WIN A PAIR OF ZAZOU SUNGLASSES FROM ZANZAN!

Win a pair of handcrafted sunglasses from Zanzan’s new Isola Azzurra collection valued at 6,700 Kč. Write to us at info@soffamag.com (subject: Zanzan) and tell us where you imagine wearing these fabulous glasses and why. The best answer wins.

For complete contest rules go to www.soffamag.com

Zanzan is an independent eyewear brand based in London. Thanks to its unconventional style and unusual perspective on eyewear design, Zanzan is helping to revive the popularity and fashion of sunglasses.

The latest Isola Azzurra collection evokes images of long Mediterranean days. Zanzan glasses are sold at Butik Klára Nademlýnská, Mint Shop and Unikát.

For more than 150 years Český porcelán [Czech Porcelain], a.s. has been creating decorative, utilitarian and hospitality porcelain in a wide range of shapes and decorative styles. Among our most famous products is the blue blood of European porcelain – the so-called ‘onion porcelain’. www.cesky.porcelan.cz MAKE-UP

Collage

FORGOTTEN PLACES WE HAVE SEARCHED FAR AND WIDE, AROUND THE GLOBE AND IN THE OUTER SPACE, TO FIND LOST AND FORGOTTEN PLACES FULL OF MYSTERY AND MARVEL. text: Patrik Floriรกn | collage: Freja Nielsen

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THONIS-HERACLEION, EGYPT THE ANCIENT CITY OF HERACLEION HIDES BENEATH THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA OFF THE COAST OF EGYPT. THE SUBJECT OF MANY ANCIENT STORIES, HERACLEION WAS NAMED AFTER THE GREEK DIVINE HERO HERACLES AND SERVED AS THE SEAT OF MANY PHARAOHS. THE FORMER TRADE AND TAX COLLECTION POWER CENTRE SUCCUMBED TO THE SEA AROUND THE EIGHTH CENTURY AD, AND WAS REDISCOVERED ONLY IN THE YEAR 2000.

The port city of Heracleion – known also by the original Egyptian name Thonis – was built around the 8th century BC and in its heyday harboured almost every ship that made the voyage between Greece and Egypt. Heracleion was chronicled in the 5th century BC by the ancient historian Herodotus, who described a great temple built on the spot where the divine hero Heracles, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, first stepped onto Egyptian soil. According to legend, Heracleion also harboured Helen of Troy and her lover Paris while they were fleeing her jealous husband, the Spartan king Menelaus.

The city was veiled in mystery once lost to the sea and for years was believed to be nothing more than a legend. Only in 2000 did the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and a team of Egyptian scientists discover the ruins of the ancient city, hidden beneath the dark waters for more than 1,200 years. The unveiling of the great metropolis continues to this day, and in spite of the incredible treasure trove found amidst its ruins, including well-preserved statues, stone inscriptions, anchors, jewellery and coins, the reason for the city’s submersion remains a mystery. Current thinking is that natural catastrophes weakened the unstable sediment on which the city had been built, and the last of these – a great earthquake – submerged the city forever. ►

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TIANDUCHENG, CHINA THERE ARE PLACES WHERE YOU CAN WALK DOWN FIFTH AVENUE, TAKE A PHOTO NEXT TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, WALK OVER THE FAMOUS TOWER BRIDGE, EAT A FRESH CROISSANT UNDER THE EIFFEL TOWER, AND ENJOY IT ALL WITHOUT BATTLING THRONGS OF TOURISTS. WELCOME TO CHINA’S INCREDIBLE GHOST CITIES. IF YOU DON’T LIKE GHOSTS DON’T WORRY – THEY HAVE NO GHOSTS THERE, AND NOT MANY PEOPLE EITHER.

China is the most populous nation on earth and has one of the highest levels of urbanisation. In spite of this China boasts empty streets and empty houses on a scale large enough to house an entire nation. Tianducheng is a luxury outer suburb of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province. Construction of the would-be French suburb began in 2007 and planned to house as many as 100,000 residents. The core area comprises 31 km2 of genuine Paris architecture commanded by a 108-metres high replica of the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, only about 2,000 people live in this luxury residential area located in the middle of nowhere.

China’s ghost cities are a confounding phenomenon of the twenty-first century.

Although the last few years have seen an increase in the number of people choosing to move to these curious developments, the problem of populating ghost cities is far from solved. Some developments have been left unfinished due to the recession in the Chinese economy, while others have been plagued with administrative hurdles.

And while they may be spectacular to behold, many of the replicas of the world’s most famous cities are not that interesting to the average Chinese homebuyer. ►

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BUZLUDZHA MONUMENT, BULGARIA THE BUZLUDZHA PEAK IN THE CENTRAL BALKAN MOUNTAINS HAS WITNESSED SEVERAL HISTORIC EVENTS, INCLUDING THE LANDING OF THE SO-CALLED BULGARIAN UFO. INTENDED TO FOREVER GLORIFY THE FOUNDING OF THE BULGARIAN COMMUNIST PARTY, THE UFO STRUCTURE HAS INSTEAD BECOME AN ICONIC EXAMPLE OF THE BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE FAVOURED BY SOCIALISM. TODAY ENTRY IS FORBIDDEN TO THE DECAYING MONUMENT, WHICH GREETS WOULD-BE VISITORS WITH THE WORDS ‘NEVER FORGET YOUR PAST’.

The name Buzludzha originates from the Turkish word ‘icy’, which is fitting given the events that have taken place on and near the peak, some of which would send chills down your spine. In 1868 Buzludzha was the site of the last battle between Bulgarian rebels and the Ottoman Empire, and twenty-three years later it was witness to secret socialist meetings that led to the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, the forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party. To mark the peak’s importance to the genesis of the Communist Party, the architect Georgi Stoilov was commissioned to build the Buzludzha Monument in the 1970s. To place the ‘UFO’ on top of the mountain, the construction team levelled the peak by nine metres with the help of the explosive TNT. The monument was opened ceremoniously in August 1981 by the Communist leader Todor Zhivkov, who proclaimed: ‘May the paths leading here, to the legendary Buzludzha peak, … , never fall into disrepair.’ In spite of Zhivkov’s blessings the monument was abandoned after the revolution of 1989 and today it is closed for fear of collapse. The top of Buzludzha can still be reached through the Shipka mountain pass, but the journey is demanding and presents considerable risks. However, recent reports indicate that there is talk of rebuilding the monument due to its historic significance. ►

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ROSS ISLAND, ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA LOCATED IN THE BAY OF BENGAL BETWEEN INDIA AND MYANMAR, THE TINY ROSS ISLAND IN THE ANDAMAN ARCHIPELAGO HAS BEEN A HOME TO ITS NATIVE PEOPLE, A COLONY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, AND AN ADMINISTRATIVE BASE FOR THE BRITISH ROYAL NAVY. TODAY THE ISLAND IS OFF LIMITS TO CIVILIANS, LEAVING DEER AND PEACOCKS TO ROAM FREELY AMIDST THE OVERGROWN RUINS OF RESIDENCES, SHOPS AND HOSPITAL BUILDINGS.

The Andaman archipelago has some 530 islands, but only five are settled permanently. There are no more than 500 original residents remaining in the archipelago, and most prefer to keep isolated from the rest of the world. Named after the surveyor Sir Daniel Ross, the tiny Ross Island has an interesting tale. It begins in 1788, when the British Royal Navy’s first lieutenant Archibald Blair surveyed the southern Andaman archipelago. After Blair’s survey a settlement was established at Port Blair on South Andaman Island, and they chose Ross Island – just three kilometres northeast of Port Blair – to be the site for their hospital and sanatorium. In spite of its healing purpose, the island witnessed high levels of mortality among colonial settlers, and was abandoned by the British in 1796. The British returned to the island during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and established a penal colony there. Ross Island continued to serve as an administrative centre for the British Empire until 1941, when a large earthquake forced most residents to leave. During the Second World War the island was occupied by Japanese forces, but most people left once the war ended. Today the island is administered by the Indian Navy, with no civilian settlements allowed. Of interest to solar power buffs is the ten-metre high lighthouse on the island’s northern tip. Built in 1977, the solar powered lighthouse is the first place on Indian soil where the Indian government introduced photovoltaic technology. ►

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INTERNATIONAL SUN-EARTH EXPLORER-3 (ISEE-3), OUTER SPACE THE ISEE-3 SPACE PROBE HAS BEEN ORBITING IN OUTER SPACE FOR NEARLY FORTY YEARS. OVER THIS TIME IT HAS COMPLETED SEVERAL SUCCESSFUL MISSIONS AND ACHIEVED SEVERAL COSMIC ‘FIRSTS’. IT MET HALLEY’S COMET, FOR EXAMPLE, AND EVEN BECAME A CYBERSPACE STAR. ALTHOUGH WE HAVEN’T HAD CONTACT WITH THE PROBE FOR A FEW YEARS NOW, ONE DAY ITS ORBIT IS BOUND TO BRING IT CLOSE AGAIN TO ITS NATIVE EARTH.

The International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) space probe was launched into space in 1978 under a joint programme of NASA and the European Space Research Organisation. Orbiting at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, it was the first space probe tasked with studying the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the flow of solar wind. After completing its first mission, ISEE-3 was renamed in 1982 as the International Comet Explorer (ICE) and began to study comets. The probe’s final mission ended in May 1997 and NASA suspended the ICE project by leaving only a carrier signal operational. Brief contact was established in 1999 to verify that the signal was still online, and nine years later new technologies revealed that all but one of its 13 functions were still operational. And so emerged the incredible idea to reboot the probe and return it to the original mission during its 2014 approach to Earth. Space research enthusiasts supported the idea by raising nearly 160,000 US Dollars through crowdfunding, and ICE became an internet star. While the reboot team was successful in establishing contact with the probe in May 2014, they were not able to return it to its original mission, and contact was lost four months later. The errant space probe continues on its silent orbit and will near the Earth again in 2031. It is a mystery as to whether it will speak to us again, or if its epic journey will ever end. ■

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THE JEWISH STAR OF ÚŠTĚK STORY OF A SYNAGOGUE RENOVATED AS PART OF THE TEN STARS PROJECT TASKED TO CREATE REGIONAL CULTURAL CENTRES THAT CELEBRATE THE CZECH REPUBLIC’S JEWISH HERITAGE. text: Hana Švolbová | photo: Lina Németh

JEWISH CULTURE HAS FOR CENTURIES BEEN AN INSEPARABLE PART OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN HISTORY. IN THE MIDDLE AGES JEWISH PEOPLE COULD ONLY SETTLE IN DESIGNATED AREAS, LEADING TO THE CREATION OF JEWISH QUARTERS. AFTER EXPULSION FROM THE SO-CALLED ‘ROYAL CITIES’ IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, JEWISH PEOPLE WERE FORCED TO CLUSTER IN SMALLER TOWNS, AND ONLY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WERE THEY ABLE TO SETTLE FREELY. THE HOLOCAUST SEVERED THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH CULTURE IN CZECHIA AND LEFT MANY JEWISH QUARTERS DEVOID OF THEIR ORIGINAL RESIDENTS.

The town of Úštěk is the smallest heritage reservation in Czechia, but it is full of intriguing sites. One of these is the Úštěk synagogue, built in the late eighteenth century in the Classicist style on the site of a former Jewish school. The tower-like structure standing on a square foundation is unique in the Czech Republic, and its position on top of a rock promontory allows it to be viewed from afar. The interior is decorated with Moorish and Neo-Renaissance motifs, and the basement features the original vaulted classroom and teacher’s quarters.

After the occupation of the Sudeten region in 1938, most of Úštěk’s Jewish community fled to Prague. Some went abroad, while others perished in Nazi extermination camps.

The building itself was not greatly damaged during the war, but the same cannot be said of the interior furnishings. The synagogue deteriorated over the ensuing years, and at one point was slated for demolition. In 1993 it was rescued by the Federation of Jewish Communities and renovated in two stages. As none of the pre-war Jewish residents had returned to Úštěk, the renovated synagogue could no longer serve its religious purpose and was transformed into a cultural centre. A permanent exhibition dedicated to Jewish education opened in 2014.

While many people have a broad understanding of Judaism, they may not know about the unique system of Jewish education. The permanent exhibition sheds light on this fascinating aspect of Jewish culture, presenting it through a historical lens. Visitors will learn about education in the Jewish community as far back as the Biblical times, and how important it was in the Terezin concentration camp – to the point that people risked their lives to educate their children. Today the synagogue serves as a concert hall and gallery. During our visit the photographs of Zdeňek Zrůst were on display. ■ For more information go to 10hvezd.cz/cs/objekt/ustek/ or www.synagoga-ustek.cz

Gallery

WHEN STONE SPEAKS

‘STONE PERMEATES WITH LIFE. IT PUSHES TOWARDS THE LIGHT SO THAT IT MAY SING, BURNS THROUGH SHAPES AND TONES, DESIRES TO BE HEARD AND SEEN.’ – KAREL SCHULZ, STONE AND PAIN text: Helena Novotná | photo: Adéla Havelková

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MONUMENTAL, UNEXPECTED, FORGED WITH NATURE. ROCK RELIEFS ARE A SPECIAL FORM OF ART – SOMETHING BETWEEN A STATUE AND LAND ART, MADE BOTH BY THE HUMAN HAND AND BY NATURE. THE TRIPTYCH OF ROCK RELIEFS FOUND IN A WOODLAND NEAR LIPNICE NAD SÁZAVOU WAS COMPLETED

BY THE CZECH SCULPTOR RADOMÍR DVOŘÁK IN 2007. TAKE A WALK ALONG THE YELLOW-MARKED TRAILS AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. THE STONE EAR, EYES, AND MOUTH AWAIT THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO GO IN SEARCH OF THEM.

The first rock relief in the triptych is the so-called Bretschneider’s Ear. Created by Radomír Dvořák and a group of stonemasons, the giant, anatomically precise ear floats on a large rock face above a flooded quarry. It was named after the character of a police detective in the famous Czech comedy novel The Good Soldier Švejk written

by Jaroslav Hašek, who died in Lipnice nad Sázavou and whose grandson Richard is the patron of the rock triptych. Hašek’s typical humour is echoed in the work’s sub-title – Monument to National Eavesdropping. The second relief created by the team is Mouth, another beautifully rendered symbol of communication. The halfopened women’s lips are almost two metres wide, and a hand can be inserted into the mouth as far as the forearm, just as Audrey Hepburn did in the famous scene from Roman Holiday. The Lipnice Mouth was indeed inspired by the famous Mouth of Truth [La Bocca della Verità], but liars need not worry about loosing their hands in the Czech version. The triptych is complete with Golden Eyes, the symbol of sight. The gilded eyes framed in a simple-line triangle recall traditional representations of the Eye of Providence. ■

THIS SPREAD: To get up close to the reliefs you need a winter cold enough to freeze the waters of the flooded quarry. On thick ice you can almost touch the Golden Eyes and the Mouth, as they have been carved close to the level of the water. Bretschneider’s Ear was placed several metres higher, so the only way to ‘eavesdrop’ is from the opposite end of the quarry.

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