Dobrey den, Just got back from a lovely two weeks in Prague. Beautiful city. Absolutely breathtaking. Can't wait to return. Only disappointment was the graffiti and defacement of the buildings. It was absolutely everywhere. What's it all about :?: Wissy.
I know what you mean. It makes my heart bleed when I see the lovingly restored buildings defaced by vandals. Pity Prague is not Singapore where they deal with the problem by public whipping. :evil:
I totally agree Eva. Why do they do it? Do they have no respect for where they live or the heritage that they are defacing? I was impressed generally with Czech youth when i was over. I found them articulate and cultured. So who is doing this graffiti? What is going through their mind? Wissy. :?
Hi Wissy, The graffiti on Prague's beautiful buildings and walls, which always seem to appear within days on every newly restored surface, are a disgrace and I don't understand why it is such a wide-spread problem in the Czech Republic. The way I see it is the people who do graffiti do NOT have any respect for where they live and don't care in the slightest about the heritage that they are defacing. In my opinion, the only two things that can possibly be going through their minds when damaging the hard work of others and the beauty of Czech towns is 1) cool, this is fun, what a great new wall to spray useless stuff on! and 2) hey, catch me if you can! What baffles me is that I have never in my life seen one of these people "at work" and I continue to wonder if all of them are out in the depths of night. Another thing I would like to know is what is the Czech police doing to stop this? I see city police officers pacing the streets of my neighborhood during the day and I would assume that they don't go home for the night, so how come these graffiti people don't seem to ever get stopped and punished? I've heard that one Czech town (was it Bystřice nad Pernštejnem?) has partially solved the graffiti problem in their own way since the police can't be relied upon. The city decided that every building owner is to be personally responsible for keeping the walls of their buildings free of graffiti and if graffiti do appear, the owner has to remove them at their own expense. And what followed? Regular citizens in that town started catching the graffiti kids on their own and bringing them to the police. It's unfortunate that building owners should be punished for the rudeness of others but obviously, that's the only thing that seems to be working at the moment. Dana
As I understand it, some consider themselves artists and they claim the right of expressing themselves freely. For the others it's an adrenaline-powered hobby.
Dana and Eva, Thanks for your replies and interest in this subject. Some channelled graffiti is O.K. if used in the right way and could be regarded as art ie: Lennons Wall (is it still there?). However, the authorities must draw up a plan to tackle this problem because it is an eye-sore and gives totally the wrong impression of Prague to visitors. Wissy.
Most graffiti in the Czech Republic consist of one-colour sprayed tags with no artistic value whatsoever (with not even the most basic measure of calligraphy). I assume it is youths impressed with American ghetto-culture who are too young to appreciate the delicate medieval European architecture and just find it boring!
Hi Mravenec! I suppose some people do get bored with things and take them for granted. This would explain how someone could willingly spray a gothic structure with black spray paint. Someone should indeed do something about it, but I hope everyone will take some comfort in knowing this: I went to Prague this year and last year. After my first trip I read some posts about graffiti and I just did not recall seeing any graffiti. I was so stunned and emotionally effected by the old buildings that I just didn't see it. Anyway, I made a point to look this year, and of course then I saw it. So what I'm trying to say is that, yes the graffiti is undesirable, but Prague's great architectural treasures so enchant visitors (me anyway) that the graffiti gets pushed out of the mind to a great extent. As Eva2 said, the old buildings were lovingly restored and that is obvious. They are spectacular. Just a thought, but maybe if everyone there would just as lovingly, yet firmly educate the youth about why this is so unacceptable, it might make a difference. Perhaps this is being done already. This might work or it might not. In America we have many social issues that play a big part in the graffiti problem, however I'm not sure that Czech Republic is as far gone as the U.S. is. Perhaps Czech youth are more receptive to education than some elements of American youth. I hope so anyway. Zane
The first graffiti maker I saw was in a Czech-French documentary that was broadcast about 10 years ago. He was a teenage Czech boy born in New York and brought to his ancestral home by his concerned parents. His ambition: to be a gangsta because a gangsta has an office! :lol: :cry: :evil:
Yes, such as those in the New York subway or the San Francisco Mission District which are indeed considered art, have a history, and give the cities unique character. You can see some interesting graffiti in Prague as well, sometimes covering an old, dilapidated wall or a train car that is no longer in use. The meaningless scribbles that are being sprayed on newly restored 19th century Art Nouveau buildings are a different story though.
By and large the grafitti makers can be compared to peeing dogs. They leave a mark to announce their existence. Grafitti have always be there as witnessed by Egyptian monuments vandalized by the ancient Roman tourists. The real problem is the invention of the spray can.
Perhaps the authorities should spray any caught perperaters with their own spray paint and then remove it off with soap and a wire brush. Sorry, now that CR is part of the EU this would be against the criminal's human rights wouldn't it.....silly me! Wissy. :twisted:
The secret to stop Graffiti - remove it immediately. Its a source of pride and a show to other morons that a ceratain person did it. If you remove it before anyone else, (or few anyway), see it the effect is gone. The tag is gone. Nobody can bask in the glory of how clever they are. On the tube we had this problem, now we have zero tolerance and it must be removed immediately - we get next to none now. Except 1 guy - Tox05 is his tag abnd the little b gets everywhere. But we will get him. Mal
Brilliant Dana - thank you. Your images capture exactly what i'm trying to say. Something must be done to discourage this defacement. Wissy. :evil:
Some of these graffiti are drug rings' signatures. Addicts know they can find skunk, extasy and other such narcotics in the vicinity at night. We've got about the same here in Paris.
I think most kids are educated well about the historical value of the city. Unfortunately, each city has its vandals. It's a minority of misguided teenage kids that find it very amusing to damage someone's hard work. I have just visited Prague after 5 years of living in U.S.A. and I was appalled how much useless grafiti I saw on freshly painted buildings. It's a disgrace. Shame police won't do anything about it.
