The Atlas of Christmas by Alex Palmer

Author:Alex Palmer [PALMER, ALEX]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

A few nativity traditions from around the world are:

Betlémy (Czech Republic): Nativity scenes trace back to the sixteenth century in this region, though they did not begin appearing in homes until at least the eighteenth century. What sets the Czechs apart from other makers of nativity scenes is their breadth: The scenes extend beyond the stable and the traditional characters, incorporating the wider surroundings of everyday life in Bethlehem, with farmers, craftsmen, traders, and musicians joining in the celebration of the Christ child. No wonder they refer to these not as “cribs” or “mangers” but by the more expansive Betlémy, or “Bethlehems.”

This art form has such a rich history here that one can find multiple museums dedicated to the craft, including the Museum of Nativity Scenes in Karlstejn, outside of Prague (with more than fifty scenes, some made of sugar, bread, and coconut shells), and the Třebechovice Museum of Nativity Scenes, about one hundred miles east. One highlight of the latter is the scene by Josef Probošt, first begun in the late nineteenth century, which took four decades to complete. The delicately carved wooden sculpture measures almost twenty-three feet wide and more than six feet deep, including more than two thousand carved pieces, with 373 people—put in motion by an electrical motor.

But to see perhaps the most stunning work of nativity art in the Czech Republic, one should head south to the Bohemian town of Jindřichův Hradec, where a museum exhibits the largest mechanical nativity scene in the world—Tomáš Krýza’s nearly 1,400-figure masterwork (of which 133 characters move), stretching more than fifty-five feet, which took more than sixty years for the craftsman to complete.

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