Last autumn, I ventured to a wonderful conference held in Pardubice, Czechia. Organised by a couple of friends, some old, many more new ones, I enjoyed a thoroughly nice couple of days in late September.
In my attempt to take you to places you might wish to go one day, too, here goes.
This is the city’s theatre some time ago (above), this is what it looks now:
Strangely, the one postcard I that certainly predates World War One is—of the royal quarantine holding facility, or detention camp, in Pardubice…
And now—for some Socialist realism, if you will:
Both the postcards above and below show the city in the 1970s; the main square still looks like this, even though it was a bit refurbished since the end of Communism…note the theatre in a rather dilapidated state in the top-right image in the postcard above.
This one is a bit more “spot-on” in terms of Socialist life, esp. with respect to the (ugly) buildings and “typical” Soviet-style blocks. The horse-race in the top-right corner is an allusion to the Pardubice Steeplechase, one of the deadliest (for horses) races. Here is the link to its German-language Wikipedia entry (there’s no English version).