Archive: Travel | Monuments Monuments

A Tale of Two Towers

13-04-2013 02:01 | Jan Richter

St Nicolas church, photo: archive of Radio Prague Prague’s skyline gave the capital one of its nicknames: the city of a hundred spires. But in actual fact around a thousand spires, belfries and towers of various styles and ages now grace the city centre. Some of them are popular tourist attractions offering great views of the city, others only recently revealed their mysteries. One served as an observation post for the secret police; another hosted a morbid display of a dozen severed heads. More

Sacral tourism on the rise in the Czech Republic

06-12-2012 16:49 | Daniela Lazarová

Velehrad, photo: archive of ČRo 7 - Radio Prague Sacral tourism is fast gaining ground in the Czech Republic. Although it is perceived as one of Europe’s most atheist countries the Czech Republic has an impressive network of cathedrals, basilicas, chapels and, even a church museum. More

Olomouc - a treasure trove of historical architecture

20-11-2012 16:50 | Coilin O'Connor

Caesar's fountain, photo: Luckajanotova, Wikimedia Commons, Licence CC 3.0 With its sloping cobbled streets, beautiful baroque churches and an abundance of historical architecture, Olomouc is easily one of the most appealing cities in the Czech Republic outside of Prague. Typically, this bustling university town in North Moravia owes much of its architectural splendour to its long and somewhat chequered past. Some claim that this ancient city dates back as far as Roman times, when it was reputed to have been founded by Julius Caesar himself. More

St. Martin in the Wall

13-11-2012 17:04 | Christian Falvey

I had never really been inside or had a proper look around, but I was sure the small church of St Martin in the Wall would have an interesting story, if for no other reason than its ancient appearance and peculiar name. Just off the central Národní třída is a classic Prague alleyway that’s tucked away from the shopping boulevard, neatly dividing the centuries from one another, and there you’ll find it. One of the oldest churches in the city, St Martin in the Wall is one of those relatively few landmarks whose story can transport you all the way back through the ages to the beginnings of the Czech metropolis. More

The small Vršovice château – an old landmark rising slowly from the ruins

23-10-2012 16:39 | Masha Volynsky

Photo: Aktron, CC 3.0 license Standing atop of a small hill, with a tramline swooping around it, punctuated by a baroque Roman Catholic church on one side and a modernist Hussite church on the other, Rangherka, or the small Vršovice château, contains within its own story the history of the surrounding district as well. The original building was put up just as the then village of Vršovice began to grow and develop rapidly. Now, unlike the surrounding neighbourhood, it is a sad sight. The prominent neo-renaissance building is in ruins, with reconstruction having dragged on for more than six years, although the past year has seen the work finally intensify. More

The House of the Black Madonna – home of the only surviving Cubist café in the world

16-10-2012 16:34 | Sarah Borufka

The House of the Black Madonna, photo: Radio Prague Nestled between busy Wenceslas Square and Prague’s number one tourist destination, Old Town Square, the House of the Black Madonna houses a small museum of Cubism as well as the only surviving Cubist café in the world – the Grand Café Orient, which was renovated between 2002 and 2005. More

St. Procopius Basilica in Třebíč

09-10-2012 | Christian Falvey, Zdenka Kuchyňová

The Basilica of St. Procopius in Třebíč is one of only 12 places in the Czech Republic inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In this edition of Spotlight we’ll give you a taste of some of what makes the 12th century structure such a marvel. More

New CzechTourism campaign invites visitors to create their own stories

12-09-2012 16:19 | Maggie Lund

The national tourism agency CzechTourism has launched a new advertising campaign branding the Czech Republic as a ‘land of stories’, using experiences famous figures such as Goethe, Einstein, Apollinaire and Peter the Great had in the country to attract visitors from abroad. The new campaign invites potential tourists to make the Czech Republic the place for their own stories just as famous figures from their countries have done before them. Maggie Lund caught up with Leon Sverdlin, creative director of the advertising company Mark BBDO, whom CzechTourism commissioned to produce the campaign, and asked him what image of the Czech Republic they wanted to get across. More

National Heritage Institute seeks to attract more visitors to Czech castles and chateaus

14-07-2012 02:01 | Jan Richter

Lednice chateau, photo: CzechTourism The Czech Republic is sometimes called the land of castles and chateaus. For historic reasons, many of those monuments, including some of the most popular ones such as Lednice, Český Krumlov and Karlštejn, are owned by the state and run by the National Heritage Institute. To attract more visitors to these sits, the institute this week opened an information office in Prague. Radio Prague spoke to Tomáš Brabec from the National Heritage Institute, and asked him what information visitors can find in the new facility. More

A visit to Skalka in Prague's Smíchov

10-07-2012 14:01 | Dominik Jůn

Photo: Lukyn.v, CC 3.0 license In this week's Spotlight, Dominik Jun visits Skalka in Prague's Smíchov district, and discovers baroque-era ruins, and forests and meadows galore... More

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