Yesterday, I arrived in Prague and spent the day there before taking the 2.5-hour train ride to the Southern Moravian town of Brno where I will be based this semester as a Freemover PhD student at Masaryk University. During my time here, I will be traveling all over the region in order to visit archives, museums, and architectural sites. I look forward to sharing what I see with everyone here. Currently, my plans for the semester have me visiting 4 cities in the Czech Republic (Prague, Brno, Liberec, and Moravský Krumlov) and 5 countries (Poland, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia) that made up much of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire!

I have been here for just over a day and I have already seen one of the spaces that will play a role in my dissertation. In the Nové Město (New Town) district, the Jubilejní synagoga (Jubilee Synagogue)—also known as the Jeruzalémská synagoga (Jerusalem Synagogue) for its location along Jeruzalémská Street—features a fascinating mix of Moorish Revival architecture meant to distinguish Jews in the empire as non-European and Habsburg Jew’s positive views of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

I am excited for what this semester will bring and thankful to the UIC Art History Department for their support.