Travel theme: Up

What I always say to my clients when I am giving the tour in Prague is: Always look up. Everywhere there is something that surprises you, some nice detail that worths seeing, something unexpected. The Travel Theme: Up is therefore easy for me. I want to show you ceilings, domes, vaults and arches, which you can find in Prague but also around it.
As usually we start our tour at Prague Castle, with vaults of St. Vitus cathedral, Vladislav’s Hall and Lands Rolls.

From top left: Chapel in St. Vitus Cathedral, ceiling of Land Rolls offices in Royal Palace, valuting of St. Vitus cathedral, Vladislav’s Hall

Above you have examples of gothic and Renaissance vaulting, bellow is the dome of St. Nicholas Church in Little Quarter in Prague, the peak of Baroque in Czech lands.

Dome of St. Nicholas Church

We are coming to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Vaulting on the left is from the Church of St. Ludmila from the end of 19th century, the right is the shot from the passage of Czech National Bank (our Fort Knox), built at the beginning of 20th century.

Vaulting of St. Ludmila Church and passage of Czech National Bank

There are a lot of passages and galleries around Wenceslass Square in Prague. Specially these are the places where you stop doing window shopping and you look up to see all the glass and metal around. Most of the passages is nicely reconstructed.

Passages at Wenceslass Square: Koruna, Rokoko and U Stýblů

Trains are a good way of travelling around Czech Republic, the next shot is from the oldest train station in Prague, now it is called Masaryk‘s, after the first president of independent democratic Czechoslovak republic 1918-1938.

Masaryk’s train station platform

With the train we can reach Kutná Hora, another place in Czech Republic that is written in UNESCO World Heritage List. Now we are not going to visit the city center, but let’s see quarter called Sedlec, where you find bone chapel and beautiful Church of Assumption of Our Lady.

Kutná Hory / Sedlec, Ossuary (Bone chapel) and Church of Assumption of Our Lady

You already saw the works of Santini in one of my previous posts and there is the dome of the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Žďár nad Sázavou, another monument written on World Heritage List and protected by UNESCO.

Ceiling od the Curch of St. John of Nepomuk in Žďár nad Sázavou

Last but not least is my favorite city Olomouc and shots from the Cathedral of St. Wenceslass, a beautiful cathedral from 12th century.

Arches and roof of St. Wenceslass cathedral in Olomouc

Olomouc Art Nouveau

Olomouc center at one sight

Olomouc is a city in north Moravia with about 100 000 inhabitants. Throughout centuries Olomouc fought with Brno (in South Moravia) to be the center of Moravian region in medieval ages. Despite the fact that Olomouc was mostly losing and nowadays Brno is the administrative center of Morava, there were moments of high importance for Czech kingdom history that took place in Olomouc. Like:

Assassination of Bohemian king Vaclav III in Olomouc in 1306 resulted in dying out in male tail for Premyslid dynasty, first ruling dynasty in Bohemia that were on the throne for 400 years. In 1479 there was agreed that Bohemia will have two kings – Vladislav Jagellonsky in the West and Matyas Corvin in the East, 1573 the second biggest university (after Charles university in Prague) was founded in Olomouc.

New building of Olomouc unversity

Bezruč’s gardens bellow the Old Town walls.

Today you can meet lots of students here as well as enjoy quiet narrow streets and park bellow the walls of the Old Town, specially during chilly foggy autumn days :-). For summer days there are beautiful stone fountains around the city, to refresh the air.

One of Olomouc’s landmarks is written in UNESCO World Heritage List from the year 2000. It is the Holy Trinity Column, baroque monument built in 18th century as a celebration of Catholic faith and also by feeling gratitude of surviving the plague epidemic. It is the biggest Baroque sculptural group in Czech Republic.

Holy Trinity Column with Townhall at the back, Astronomical clock on the townhall can be also seen

But what I really like in Olomouc today, are the art nouveau buildings with lot of colorful details around the main square.

Gold mosaic windows

Bubble boy

Glass-metal protections from weather moods

My favorite – girl photographer, see the detail on the right

The most beutiful art nouveau sight in the city is Villa Primavesi, where Gustav Klimt came for visit and today you can find cozy restaurant with great dishes there.

Villa Primavesi Art Nouveau details