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Weekend of open gardens – Part 1 – Luft’s Garden
Some time ago I noticed a poster in a street inviting those passing by to visit a garden belonging to a Dominican monastery within an event called “Weekend of open gardens”. As I had never heard of such an event, that invitation caught my attention and I thought about finding more pieces of information on the Internet when I get home. But you know what, soon I had other things on my mind and if it wasn’t for my colleague who reminded me of that event when the weekend was close, I would have missed that. The “Weekend of open gardens” is inspired by the English “Open Garden & Squares…
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Detour
When returning home from Křivoklát, we stopped for a while by a group of buildings we noticed along the way and which arose our curiosity. We found out that the complex represents a regional museum and gallery Mariánská Týnice which has been placed in the premises of a former Cistercian pilgrimage destination. When I read that the museum was opened in 1952, I wasn’t much surprised as the fifties, having been under the communist rule, were quite unfavourable to religious orders and religion generally. On the other hand, the buildings were preserved in this way and that’s valuable. It is noteworthy that the church and the provost office were built…
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Easter outing
Though Easter cold and rainy weather forecast did not seem favourable for outings, we wanted to make one and decided to visit an Easter market at the castle Křivoklát. Frankly, I don’t like crowded places like such a market much but I had never been to Křivoklát, which is one of the oldest (more than 900 years since the first written reference) and most important castles of Bohemian kings, and this seemed to be a good opportunity to change that. When we arrived at Křivoklát, there were even more cars and people than I expected as we made an effort to get there soon enough but eventually it didn’t matter…
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Art in Klenová
In my previous post I promised to share some information about art we could see in Klenová and here I am to fulfil my promise. The castle in Klenová serves to present works of art in many forms. During our visit we saw an exhibition of paintings, an exhibition of photographs and several statues placed in the premises of the castle. There were more than you will see in my photos but these were the ones that impressed me most. Please take into account that looking at my captures doesn’t correspond entirely to standing in the statues’s nearness and even touching them… I have to admit that I quite regret…
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This and that in Klenová
A few years ago we stopped in Klenová for a while and visited an old church there, a small church hidden among trees. I just remembered there was also a gallery we didn’t want to visit at that time and having taken a few photos in front of the church and having spent several minutes there, we left for home. Last weekend we decided to visit that place once more and to be thorough this time and visit everything it offers. Which is the church, a gallery, an exhibition of photos and an exhibition of paintings, ruins of an old castle and a building of a new chateau. When we arrived at…
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Park of Blatná castle
At the end of my post about the castle in Blatná I promised to take you to the castle’s park so here we go. The park is open to the public all year round, free of charge. At the beginning of 19th century, the front part of the park was remodelled from a deer-park into an English style park, the back part remained preserved in its original form. Today the park is not as large as it used to be but it seems to have retained its charm. There used to stand several buildings in the park but today there is only one, an Empire style house, where Hildprant family…
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Blatná castle
Amidst marshland, situated on rock bedrock, a wooden fortress used to stand. Then, in the 13th century, the fortress was rebuilt into a castle. Later a moat was built in the place of the marsh to protect the castle. That is where the history of the castle in Blatná, which is a small town in South Bohemia, dates back. The era of the family of the house of Rožmitál in the 15th century, under which the castle was remodelled significantly, is considered as the most important period in the castle’s history and sometimes it is called a golden age of the castle. The family of the house of Rožmitál was…
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Farming festivities
Have you known that the United Nations Organisation declared 2014 to be an International Year of Family Farming? A few weeks ago, while walking in a near town, we were passing by a notice board where various local actions were announced. One of the posters was inviting everybody to come to Roupov to farming festivities where activities for (not only) children would be prepared. We found out on the Internet that Roupov is actually a village situated just a few kilometres from where we live and a visit to a local farm seemed very appealing to me. I took a quick photo of the poster with my mobile not to…
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Other bits and pieces from our trip to Rabštejn nad Střelou
In my previous post I shared a few photos from our trip to Rabštejn nad Střelou (Rabštejn is a town and Střela is the river above which the town is situated) and today I will add some more. Also, I promised to tell you more about this town which is the smallest town in the Czech Republic with its about 21 inhabitants. The first notice of Rabštejn comes from 1269, in 1337 it was granted a law of a town. About 20 years later Rabštejn was sold to the emperor Charles IV. who was interested in it. He understood its local importance and was even often staying there. The town…
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Stony bits and pieces
Last Saturday we spent several hours on a trip about 30 kilometres away from Plzeň (Pilsen), in and around the town Rabštejn nad Střelou. I will tell you more about this miniature town with interesting history records in my next post, today I would like to focus on another aspect of that area. As you might have guessed from the title of this post, it is about stones which are very frequent there. The structure and colouration caused by covers of lichens and similar plants growing on the surface of the local rocks create interesting pictures in many places. Also, there is an old slate quarry and you tread on…
