Our Day in Kutna Hora

Monday we joined up with our tour guide, Krysti and traveled to Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora is an old silver mining town outside of Prague. The main roads were closed due to construction so we detoured through several small towns. It was interesting to see the farms and small villages but the roads were very bumpy. We arrived to this beautiful view……just perfect!

kutna hora

The town of Kutna Hora was once Europe’s largest silver mining town. By 1700’s the mines had petered out and the town folded. Because the town had once been very rich it has gorgeous buildings and a huge church, St. Barbara’s. UNESCO has recently been restoring the town so it is coming back to life. It is not full of tourists and the day was very pleasant after all the crowded streets of Prague.

Here are some views of St. Barbara’s. Look at the double arched flying buttresses and the detailed carvings in the arches.

st barbaraarches

gargoyle2

st barbara webbing

 We walked the town, viewed lovely scenery, many restored buildings, the plague tower, the miner’s museum, and a Gothic city fountain in Rejsek Square.

pink building  fall in kh

plague tower small

  city well miners museum

Isn’t the sky just a perfect blue?

This is an example of signage left from the Communist era.

signs2 jpg

After lunch at a local pub (I even tried a local beer) we rode a short way to the village of Sedlec and visited The Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist.

our lady roberts

 This High Gothic church was rebuilt and completed at the turn of the 17th and 18th century. It is a wonderful combination of Gothic and Baroque architecture.  Our Lady began as a Cistercian Monastery and was once considered the most magnificent church in Bohemia. I think it is still very magnificent! Look at these arches and the view down the nave.

our lady arches Our Lady also has a winding staircase where you can look down into the church from a balcony and walk under the roof to see the construction details.

stair in st james looking up stairs in st james

 

 

 

ginny on staircase

Next we were off to The Ossuary (Bone Church). The Ossuary is the underground Chapel of the Church of All Saints. It contains the bones of about 40,000 people. The bones are stacked, displayed and also made into sculptures and other objects. Here is the coat-of-arms for the Schwarzenberg family. If you want to see more click here.

coat of arms bones

bone church

Sidewalk right outside the Ossuary.

bone sidewalk

We returned home and enjoyed visiting with Krysti, catching her up on current events in Georgia. Later we treated ourselves to a trip to the top of the Intercontinental Hotel where there is a panoramic view of old town. This hotel has a nice view but is pretty ugly on the outside (another Communist leftover).

hotel ic skyline phone picture IC

So ends another day in Prague!