Square Meal
Paris was the stomping ground of Cubist creators Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, so it must be the city in which the angular arts style reached its full potential, right? Not so, says Zdenek Lukes of the National Heritage Department at the Office of the Czech President. "Paris is where Cubism was born," he says, "but Prague is where it spilled over into architecture and design, something that didn't happen elsewhere."
As a result, Prague is today known not only for paintings by Emil Filla or sculpture by Otto Gutfreund, both Czech Cubist artists, but also for about a dozen Cubist buildings and countless objects of applied art. Now it also hosts a restored Cubist café that first opened in 1912 and closed 12 years later. Grand Café Orient is the joint effort of Czech restaurateur and art collector Rudolf Brinek and the National Gallery in Prague. It reopened in March on the second floor of the House at the Black Madonna, a Cubist building downtown that also contains a gallery of Czech Cubism and a shop selling expensive reproductions of Cubist furniture and other household objects.
Although all that survived of the original space were five black-and-white photographs and a couple of sketches, the painstakingly reconstructed café succeeds in reviving much of its early 20th century charm. It's airy and open, and features huge bay windows and impressive brass-wheel chandeliers decorated with stylized tulips. The walls are paneled with mirrors and dark wood, and green stripes adorn all the upholstery. On an overcast day, the interior can verge on the austere, but the sun infuses it with a soft greenish-gold tint that puts patrons instantly at ease. Food is fresh but basic: salads, sandwiches and sweet and savory crepes. Coffee is served in style, arriving in handsome cups printed with a Cubist motif. For Brinek, the café, which may well be the only complete Cubist interior in the world, has been a labor of love. "It makes you feel as though you returned to Prague something that always belonged here," he says. "I take great pleasure in that." The rest of us can take pleasure in the re-creation of a Cubist masterpiece. tel: (420) 224 224 240
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