What is currently the scariest part of Prague? Is it The Wenceslav Square? Or the outskirts of Prague? Or could it be the Old Town Square itself? Find out the answer right here!
Buchlov castle is not only one of the oldest but also one of the biggest castles in Moravia. Its construction began as early as in the year of 1250. As time went by the different owners kept adding on other parts to the already existing Gothic-style central building, which has created rather mixed, yet still endearing, architectural style of today. Buchlov was founded by one of the Czech kings to serve as a strategic defense fort. In the 15th century the king Vladislav II. Jagelonsky gave it away as a gift to one of his knights and since then it has never been owned by a royal family again. During the 17th century the castle was passed down to a fellow who decided the castle was not good enough for him (did it have only 300 rooms and he wanted 500 of them?? Or was the kitchen too small?? Who knows..) and built another residence of his, the Buchlov palace. (more…)
County Bouzov has been one of the most visited touristic places in Czech. The reason why it attracts so many visitors is the fairytale castle called Bouzov. The resort lies on the top of a forested hill, overflowing with draw bridges and magnificent towers. You simply feel like you just entered the land of the “Lord of the Rings”! Although its construction began already in the 14th century, the today’s romantic look was “faked” in 1895 when the reconstruction began. (more…)
The Czech Republic currently has about 340 Jewish cemeteries from which the largest ones are located in Prague-Josefov, Mikulov and Trebic. Prague also owns the oldest tomb stones made in the 15th century. What is so interesting about Jewish cemeteries? Compared to the Christian cemeteries, these, according to the Jewish rules, cannot be messed with at all. That means that if in the past there was a need for more space to bury their “new” dead people they couldn’t just enlarge or expand the already existing cemetery lot. The only thing one could do is to bury the old graves under a bunch of soil and start over again, with a new layer of graves on top of the old ones. The old tomb stones were pulled out of the “old layer” and put into the “new layer”(isn’t that wild??). The tomb stone writings were originally written only in Hebrew; at the end of the 19th century some Czech words were added in. In the 20th century the writings were written strictly either in Czech or German but most of the sentences would end with 5 characteristic Hebrew letters. (more…)
One of the hidden jewels of Moravia is definitely the Helfstyn castle, one of the largest fortresses of central Europe. This magnificent fortress is spreading through the forests of Moravia, overlooking the town Lipnik nad Becvou (by Ostrava). The castle was originated at the end of 13th century and its architectural development continued well into the 18th century. The name of the castle “Helfstyn” or “Helfen - Stein” (Helf’s Rock) comes from its founder, Mr. Fridusia Helf from Linava. This knight was known to become rich by stealing from others. Helfstyn castle became not only his residency but also the perfect “storage shed” for his stolen goodies. Initially, Helfstyn castle had an important military function as a military base of Hussites against the German catholic town of Olomouc and later also became the support of Jiri of Podebrad’s troops against the Hungarian king Mathias Corvin. It also played a huge role during the Thirty Year’s War, when the castle was taken by the Swedish army, and in the course of Turkish threat to Moravia(indeed, this castle had quite an adventurous past..).The tourist entrance fee for is today about 50 cents during off-season and about $1.00 during the summer. (more…)
