THE CITY AS A SPECTRE / Jaroslav Foglar and His Prague Inspirations

The ‘Foglar Phenomenon’ has been accompanying several generations of readers, and Foglar’s books and their heroes have become nearly a cult for many of them. The City of Prague Museum commemorated the author and his books in the exhibition that accentuated the motifs of the world of teenage boys penetrating into the fascinating world of the CITY in the streets of which their stories and adventures take place. Except for short episodes in his early childhood, Jaroslav Foglar lived and worked in Prague, eagerly taking in the atmosphere of the places where he lived, worked, and met with his group members, and later transforming it into mysterious places in his novels. The exhibition and book present the city inspirations and motifs of Foglar’s work in the context of then Prague.

Foglar elevated the seemingly ordinary city coulisses into a labyrinth imbued with mystique and secrets, interconnecting many time layers, living their own lives, fascinating, and tempting for exploration. Such images of the CITY open up to the reader in many of the author’s novels, but it is the most substantial in the most famous Stínadla (Shades) trilogy that motivated all generations of readers to explore the starting points for the book’s motifs and locations. 

The publication reflects the content as well as the layout of the exhibition – the dark, historical part with illusive scenography installed in the House at the Golden Ring cellars as well as the light, aboveground section with a gallery of paintings with Prague motifs, commemorating the unrepeatable atmosphere of Prague in the first half of the 20th century.