Swanson School of Engineering

The walking tour of Prague helped me appreciate the engineering behind the city’s historical and modern infrastructure as it gave me the opportunity to take in the architecture and attention to detail in everything built in the city. I was especially able to better appreciate the city’s historical infrastructure since unlike many other large cities in Europe that got rid of their oldest buildings during the time of the transition to cars gaining popularity and streets needing to get wider to fit them, Prague kept many of their original squares and buildings, so we had the opportunity to see the way things were historically built and what an emphasis was put on. Additionally, there were many opportunities to see the interesting juxtaposition of modern buildings and sculptures surrounded by historical architecture. For example, there were many examples from David Cerny, a controversial artist, like the Franz Kafka head and the airplanes mounted on the walls with dynamic butterfly wings. Another interesting example was the modern looking building made of glass bricks, Nova Scena, next to the historical National Theater.