Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

Recording of the early morning traffic in the passage U Stýblů on the corner of Vodičkova Boulevard and Wenceslas Square, which used to be called Alfa Passage. The construction of this commercial and administrative building started in 1926 and was completed in 1929 as a project of the architects Kysela and Jarolim. The investor was Václav Stýblo. His son Adolf - a friend with the actor and theater owner Vlasta Burian and asked his father to include a hall for the theater in the cellars. Burian considered the space too small for his ensamble and it was later rent out to the varieté by Oldřich Nový. After the war in the part near the Franciscan Garden was Semafor by Jiří Suchý a Jiří Šlitr. The famous café on the first floor was closed long ago, the cinemahall was closed in 1995. The entire palace is ready now for reconstruction. The vaulted roof conctructed from glass bricks is covered with a tarpaulin. During the upcomming festival Four Days in Motion there was installed a sound piece called Alfaville, tributed to the acoustics and the history of the space. The title hints to the name of the passage and to the famous film-noir by J.L.Godard. The sound is very immersive, the level is almost subliminal, but still there are some complains from the shopkeepers.