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| Beautiful Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic |
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| Czech Cuisine - Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic |
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| Schwarzenberg Coat of Arms in Human Bones - Kostnice Ossuary, Sedlec, Czech Republic |
Cesky Krumlov & Kutna Hora, Czech Republic (6/5-6/2011) - We had the pleasure to visit 2 wonderful smaller towns in the Czech Republic - Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora.
Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (we like these), is a beautiful fairy-tale river town of 14,600 inhabitants located in Southern Bohemia. Like Prague (click to see post), Cesky Krumlov is situated on the Vltava River.
Cesky Krumlov is full of cafes and bars in Baroque buildings with a pretty old town square. Cesky Krumlov features a spectacular castle (Schwarzenberg - the second largest in the Czech Republic) and 700 years of history where for 3 centuries the Rosenberg dynasty ruled southern Bohemia from the 13th to the 16th century.
Cesky Krumlov's appearance has changed little since the 18th century and the buildings have been well maintained and beautifully restored. A wonderful walk includes crossing from the soaring Round Tower through the grandiose stone arches of the Most na Plasti bridge to the castle gardens. Tourists outnumber the local population in Cesky Krumlov during the summer.
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| Canoeing on the Vitara River - Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic |
Cesky Krumlov is full of cafes and bars in Baroque buildings with a pretty old town square. Cesky Krumlov features a spectacular castle (Schwarzenberg - the second largest in the Czech Republic) and 700 years of history where for 3 centuries the Rosenberg dynasty ruled southern Bohemia from the 13th to the 16th century.
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| Schwazenberg Castle - Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic |
Kutná Hora was a silver mining town in medieval times and once the second largest populated Czech city rivaling the power of Prague. Today Kutná Hora is home to about 21,000 people. The historical town center, including the Church of St. Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The soaring Church of St. Barbara stands proudly on a ridge above Kutna Hora.
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| Chandelier in Human Bones - Kosnice Ossuary, Sedlic |
The highlight (or maybe weird-light) of our visit to Kutna Hora was to the subburg of Sedlic and the Kostnice Ossuary, a church chapel that contains the human bones of about 40,000 people decorating the church and piled high in four 10-foot high pyramids.
Here’s the story… In 1278, an abbot brought back soil from the Holy Land and sprinkled it on the ground. The burial ground was considered holy and became extremely popular.
The Kostnice Ossuary cemetery grew large during the Black Plague of the 14th century and the Hussite wars in the 15th century. Some of cemetery was abolished and the bones stacked up around the church. In 1870, a wood carver, Frantisek Rint made the “decorations” with the human bones. The powerful Schwarzenberg family bought the property and you can see their coat of arms as well as a large chandelier done in human bones.
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AN - Thursday, July 28, 2011
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