Forget Italy…come visit the Moravian Venice! /Zapomen na Italii a pojd navstivit Moravske Benatky!

Telc, also called the “Moravian Venice” is a true pearl of Moravia, the south-east region of the Czech Republic. Reflected in the surface of peaceful ponds, the royal city was founded at the beginning of 12th century, located on the crossroads of busy merchant routes. Its very beginnings are connected with the victory of the fearless Moravian Duke Otto II who, in order to commemorate his victory, built a chapel and later also a local church with its surrounding buildings, which is the Old Town of today. Later it was bought out by the most famous Czech king, Charles IV  who later exchanged it with Jindrich of Hradec for another (probably more exciting?) castle. The Hradec family is the one who made the city as beautiful as it is today. They build the Telc castle, the water fortifications and the beautiful Gothic houses around the large marketplace. Unfortunately half of it was burnt to the ground in 1368 and later burnt some more by the Hussites who conquered the whole town except for the castle. During the merciless Thirty Year War Telc suffers under the iron fist of the Swedish soldiers who also end up occupying the town for a while. During the 17th century the owners of the  Telc castle built a Jesuit college directly opposite to the chateau, as well as the Church of the Name of Jesus and other historical buildings which complete the town’s look of today. When the Austrian Empire occupied the Czech Republic, including our Telc, the Jesuit college was rebuilt into the army barracks and the other chapels in the castle were closed. This period also seems to be the beginning the process of germanization at schools and other public places. The industrialization era of the 19th century gives the poor castle yet another make-over but in this case it is turned into a textile factory with about 600 employees. In 1992 the town was registered on the UNESCO’s List of Cultural Heritage sites (so that no one could build any more factories there…well, that’s one of the reasons).

What can you do in Telc for fun? First of, the city is a world-known site for bicycling. It offers about 10 different biking routs located in the city as well as on the outskirts. If you don’t feel like excercising, you can go fishing or boating in the “Benatky” water or you can go horseriding.  And if you visit this town during the winter, you can go skying at the nearby Vysocina mounains.

As far as accommodation goes, I looked up the prices and they average about 400 Czech crowns ($30) per night, per person which is quite reasonable.

CZ: Ja osobne jsem navstivila Telc pouze jednou, ale pamatuji si, jak mi  svou malebnosti uplne vzala dech (ano, je to TA Telc). Neni tedy nahodou, ze se v roce 1992 stalo soucasti Seznamu svetoveho kulturniho dedictvi UNESCO. Kdo vlastne postavil ten prvni telcsky domecek? Komu muzeme dekovat za zrozeni takoveho nadherneho mesta? Podle mistni povesti bylo jeho zalozeni spojeno s vitezstvim moravskeho knizete Otty II, ktery na pamet bitvy zalozil viteznou kapli; pozdeji k ni take pridal kostel a osadu, coz je dnesni Stare Mesto. Kralovstvi pozdeji patrilo Karlovi IV, ktery ho pak (asi z nudy) vymnenil s Jindrichem z Hradce za jinou pevnost. Tento podnikavy rod zaklada uplne novy Telc; postavili hrad, kostel, vodni opevneni a dalsi goticke stavby v okoli. Telc bohuzel ale trpela dosti castymi pozary a pozdeji take husitskymi bouremi. Husite v roce 1423 dobyli cele mesto, ale samotny hrad se jim zdolat nepovedlo. Behem tricetilete valky Telc a cely kraj trpi pod svedskymi (ale take cisarskymi) vojsky. Za pilne hrabenky Frantisky z Meggau se naproti zamku postavila Jezuitska kolej a take kostel Jmena Jezise, lekarna a metereologicka stanice (to je kombinace!). 18. stoleti je poznamenano germanizaci, a to jak ve skolach a na verejnosti, tak i v rodinach. O stoleti pozdeji (industrializace) se ze zamku stava tovarna na sukna, ktera mela az 600  zamestnancu. V roce 1898 se k Telci konecne dostavila zeleznice, cimz skoncila i dlouholeta izolace mesta.

A co se vlastne v Telci da delat?  At se radi projizdite na koni, nebo spis preferujete jizdu na lyzich, nebo byste radeji travili cas rybarenim anebo na lodickach, Telc ma vsechny tyto aktivity pod palcem.  Je take obrovskou atrakci pro cyklisty, takze jestlize mate chut si trosku zasportovat, Telcska oblast nabizi kolem 10-ti  turznych cyklotras.

Co se ubytovani tyce, mrkla jsem se na par cen mistnich privatu, a stoji v prumeru 300 az 400 korun na noc (za 1 osobu), coz neni tak strasne.

Sources:

http://www.telc-etc.cz/telc/?target=staticka&id=504&menu=872

http://www.telc.eu/page.php?mx=27_mesto-a-okoli/historie&ax=42_zakladni-historicky-prehled&lx=cz&ft=