Restoration of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague and the (re)construction of progressive national traditions in socialist Czechoslovakia
Abstract
When the Communist Party came to power in February 1948, Czech public space was filled with numerous references to what were supposed to be the revolutionary phases of national history. In particular, the Hussite tradition was promoted as a leitmotif running through Czech history from the 15th century to the rise of the communist dictatorship, with the building of socialism supposedly developing and fulfilling the progressive Hussite tradition. References to Hussitism helped portray the communist government as a "natural" part of Czech history.
The (re)construction of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague is a prime example of how communist politics of history entered public space. The original chapel was built, in 1391-94, as a religious space intended for preaching in Czech. In 1402-1413, Jan Hus, considered by the communist regime to be the founder of a revolutionary (proto-communist) movement, Hussitism, preached here. In the 15th-18th centuries the chapel served various purposes. In 1786 the dilapidated building was demolished. In the 1830s, it was replaced by a residential building.
In 1948, the new communist government decided to reconstruct the Bethlehem Chapel in its (supposedly) original form. However, the chapel now acquired a new historical and ideological meaning: it was considered a cradle of Czech revolutionary traditions. That is why it was rebuilt and opened to the public in 1954.
Although the chapel was meant to be a faithful copy of the original building in which Hus preached, at least its interior decoration was based on the needs of communist politics of history: the walls of the building, for instance, (ahistorically) depict scenes from the Hussite wars fought many years after Hus was burned at the stake in Constance in 1415. Although the chapel was restored within its original walls, the meanings and values associated with it might in fact have turned it into a new object within the new socialist topography of Prague, which at the time was labelled a new socialist city.