'Beloved ABC broadcaster and bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague.
'In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him.
'Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it.
'Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars.
'Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.' (Publication summary)
Live Recording : Richard Fidler on The Golden Maze
Marie Matteson
(interviewer),
2020
23473860
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Richard Fidler chats with Readings bookseller Marie Matteson about his new personally curated history of Prague, The Golden Maze. This is a live recording of an online event hosted via Zoom during the Covid-19 crisis.' (Production summary)
At Home with Richard Fidler
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23454514
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Richard Fidler, host of ABC's Conversations, discusses his love of history and what drives him to write about it, the role of literature in this most tumultuous of years and what we can learn from the history that has gone before.
'Richard is a writer of historical travel non-fiction and his works include The Golden Maze, Saga Land and Ghost Empire.'(Production introduction)
'On May Day 1955, two years after his death, a colossal memorial to Joseph Stalin was unveiled on a prominent site north of central. Towering above the city and containing 14,000 tons of granite, it was the largest statue of the dictator ever created. Stalin was depicted at the head of a representative group of citizens, dubbed by some as a bread queue. Otakar Švec, a prominent Czech sculptor, had won the commission in 1949. After the work’s stressful gestation, he killed himself shortly before the work was unveiled; there had been constant interference and police surveillance, and his wife committed suicide in 1954.' (Introduction)
'On May Day 1955, two years after his death, a colossal memorial to Joseph Stalin was unveiled on a prominent site north of central. Towering above the city and containing 14,000 tons of granite, it was the largest statue of the dictator ever created. Stalin was depicted at the head of a representative group of citizens, dubbed by some as a bread queue. Otakar Švec, a prominent Czech sculptor, had won the commission in 1949. After the work’s stressful gestation, he killed himself shortly before the work was unveiled; there had been constant interference and police surveillance, and his wife committed suicide in 1954.' (Introduction)
At Home with Richard Fidler
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23454514
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Richard Fidler, host of ABC's Conversations, discusses his love of history and what drives him to write about it, the role of literature in this most tumultuous of years and what we can learn from the history that has gone before.
'Richard is a writer of historical travel non-fiction and his works include The Golden Maze, Saga Land and Ghost Empire.'(Production introduction)
Live Recording : Richard Fidler on The Golden Maze
Marie Matteson
(interviewer),
2020
23473860
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Richard Fidler chats with Readings bookseller Marie Matteson about his new personally curated history of Prague, The Golden Maze. This is a live recording of an online event hosted via Zoom during the Covid-19 crisis.' (Production summary)
