Litomysl, Czech Republic - hotels, tours, history, sights, transportation

Litomysl

District: Pardubicky kraj
Location: East Bohemia, approx. 150 km from Prague, 80 km North-West of Olomouc

Connection

Prague - Litomysl by car approx. 2 hours
Litomysl - Olomouc by car approx. 1 hour

Introduction

Litomysl was promoted to a town in the half of the 13th century. Establishing the second Czech archbishopric strengthened its position a hundred years later. The characteristic feature of Litomysl is long square surrounded by rows of historical houses the most important of which is the Renaissance house U Rytiru (At Knights) with precious stone-cutting decoration. Litomysl Castle was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

Sights and brief history

The Church of Finding of St. Cross from the 18th century and a representative Renaissance castle (one of the most precious in Bohemia) are the main sights of Litomysl. The noble family of Pernstejn's rebuilt the original Mediaeval castle into a Renaissance castle in the second half of the 16th century. Despite of later reconstructions of interiors especially at the end of the 18th century the appearance of the castle remained almost intact including the unique scoring decoration of facades and fronton. Litomysl Castle is an outstanding and immaculately preserved example of the arcade castle, a type of building first developed in Italy and modified in the Czech lands to create an evolved form of special architectural quality.

Specialities

Litomysl is also a birth place of a great Czech composer - Bedrich Smetana. The annual international opera festival of that takes place at Litomysl Castle at the break of June and July has his name - Smetanova Litomysl (Smetana's Litomysl).

Enquiry office

Infocentrum Litomysl
Smetanovo namesti 72, 570 01 Litomysl
Telephone: +420 461 612 161, 461 618 120
Fax: +420 461 612 161