2024 Oct 4 Friday

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Cesky Krumlov is an ancient town at the bend of the Vitaly River. Besides the imposing castle on the cliff, it has narrow alleyways and ancient roads reminiscent of Medieval times. Only the Prague castle is bigger than the Krumlov Castle in the Czech Republic. 

Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of rain through the day, but we made the best of it to see what we could.

10:36 am to 5:12 pm. 3.79 miles, 10,712 steps, elevation +530 feet. Rain on and off all day.

Click for Richard’s Relive for Friday: https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO794oKByq

Our castle tour guide is describing the castle. It used to have three towers but now just has one, there also used to be two more wooden bridges into the castle. The Lords of Krumlov built the castle around 1250. They had a coat of arms with a five-petaled rose. The castle was inherited by their relatives, the Rosenberg, in 1302 and they held it until 1602.
The Rosenberg crest has a five-petaled rose on a shield held by two bears. The significance of the bears comes from the ancient and powerful Italian family, the Orsinis. The Rosenberg wanted their family to be linked with such a noble family. Orsa means bear in Italian. For three centuries the town and castle flourished.
There are three bears living in the castle moat even today. They were first brought to the castle about 1700.
Wilhelm Rosenberg was a powerful political leader as well as one of the last members of the Rosenberg family at the castle. Unfortunately, he had no heir.
His wife was a typical Spanish Renaissance lady. In Italy, the Renaissance ladies showed off their figures, but Spanish women were covered.
As often is the case, there is a portrait of the same lady as a child. However, it was considered bad luck to paint a baby face as it was thought that the child would not live to adulthood. Fix the problem by painting the child with an adult face.
After his first wife’s death, Wilhelm Rosenberg married a much younger woman but still had no heir. This is a representation of her wedding gown, although our guide said the original gown was grey. It was thought that only invalids wore white, so our traditional wedding dress color would be bad luck.
This Schwarzenberg crest shows a raven pecking at a man’s head. After a decisive battle where a Schwarzenberg commander defeated the Ottomans, this was added to the Schwarzenberg family crest.
The sole purpose of this gold leaf-covered wooden chariot was to carry presents to the pope in Rome. There was a mistake in protocol for the first Vatican visit, so the repeat visit had to be even grander.
The Masquerade Hall is the largest room in the castle. Even today it is used for events and concerts in the summer.
The painter of the hall had fun with humor in his frescoes. Here is a self portrait having a break.
Here a partygoer catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His reflection is painted onto one of the hall’s mirrors.
Only one animal is painted in the room: a monkey. Here the monkey has a manly face while the man has a monkey’s features.
The date is painted into the gentleman’s cloak: 1748.
After the castle, we headed down the hill a bit to visit St. Vitus Church. The current building dates from 1407 to 1438.
The altar paintings show the Coronation of the Virgin, and above that, the Coronation of St. Vitus. The altar dates from 1683 and was paid for by an Eggenberg prince who owned the castle between the Rosenberggand Schwarzenberg dynasties. The Eggenberg crest is prominent on the altar.
Off to lunch at a typical Czech restaurant. The steeple for St. Vitus, rounded like the castle tower, is in the background.
After lunch we headed back to the castle hill to see the tower museum. Then Richard had one more tower to climb.
Despite the low clouds and rain, Richard could see the castle courtyard and several of the outlying buildings. It is referred to as the Castle Chateau, although we found nothing to explain the name nor specify where it was.
The Vitava River makes a horseshoe bend in town. Here you can see how the town is built right to its shores (except on the castle side where castle buildings are built on the sheer cliff).
The Barber’s Bridge here connects parts of town. You can see how densely packed the buildings are. Richard was one of the last to climb the tower as everything was closing for the day, so we headed back to the hotel to get some rest for tomorrow.

6 Responses

  1. The castle is amazing! Such a long history. So the current bears are descendants of the original bears that were there in the 1700’s?

    1. There were originally four bears but they are not all direct descendants. Interestingly, castles are directed that they should not house bears after 2030. Cesky Krumlov plans to appeal that decision.

  2. How interesting 🤔 I don’t know, I would have see the bears in person to determine if they were being treated well. Trip back?

    1. I think a family trip back would certainly be interesting. Cesky Krumlov is an interesting stop, but Prague has sooooo much to see—more like Vienna in the number of “must-sees.” They are close like Sacramento and San Jose.

  3. Looks like you had a very busy day. The city looks very walkable with lots to do. Think it was a good place to add to itinerary.
    Dan

    1. Cesky Krumlov definitely was walkable but Prague may be more of a challenge. I love the cities that have pedestrian-only areas, particularly when there are wide pedestrian-only streets. Ljubljana was the best for that.
      Our neighbor went to school in Prague. She and her husband recommended Cesky Krumlov as well as some other Czech locations. Recommendations from friends have never let us down.