Cultural and historical monuments
The Blansko area
The most important monument in the town of Blansko is the
delightful Renaissance chateau, which is currently home to Blansko
Museum, whose exhibits reflect the
tradition of the iron industry and the production of artistic castings in
Blansko. Its historical interiors and documentation on the history of research
into the Moravian Karst are also certain to be of interest. The chateau also
offers the chance of visiting the Sklep (Cellar) exhibition hall and another
small exhibition hall where exhibitions for all age ranges are held on a regular
basis.
Contact: 516 417 221, muzeum@blansko.cz
You should also make your way to Saint Martin’s Church, the last
resting place of Karolina Meineke, née von Linsingen, wife of the future King
William IV of England and heroine of an ancient tale of unrequited love. This
originally Romanesque church, now Baroque, is particularly interesting for its
Way of the Cross dating back to the end of the 19th century and a copy of
Myslbek’s Crucifixion. The ancient bell in the church tower, one of the oldest
bells in Moravia, is rare testament to the bell-founder’s art.
The little wooden church from Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, consecrated
to the Orthodox Saint Paraskiva, was brought to Blansko in 1936. It is the
oldest church of the “Lemkov” type in the country and a unique example of
Ukrainian folk art.
Contact: 723 869 347, h.ladicova@tiscali.cz
Art lovers will certainly want
to visit Blansko Gallery, which is part of Blansko Cultural Centre. Its
first-rate art exhibits are sure to interest everyone who likes to stop and take
a look at remarkable works of art.
A wide range of diverse cultural and social events for young and old
alike are held in Blansko throughout the year, so why not come and enjoy them
with us!
Our next stop on our cultural pilgrimage is the village of Sloup
in the Moravian Karst, where you can visit the late Baroque Church of Our
Lady of Sorrows, built by M. A. Caneval in the 18th century, which boasts an
altar made of black and red marble with a Gothic pieta statue. Members of the
aristocratic Salmů family rest beneath cast-iron tombstones in the local
graveyard.
In Jedovnice we can admire the originally early Baroque Church
of Saint Peter and Paul. The modern alteration of the main altar, performed
according to designs by the leading artists J. Koblasa and M. Medek, makes it
the only one of its kind anywhere in Europe.
The Vyškov area
The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Dědice is a new Baroque
building on the site of an original Gothic church from the 14th century. Leading
Moravian artists of their time, such as the sculptor Ondřej Schweigel and the
painter František Korompay, contributed to the wonderful interior. The exteriors
of the church underwent complete renovation in the nineteen nineties, a new
offertory table was placed inside the church, alterations were performed to the
main altar, and a new Way of the Cross was installed. The finishing touches to
the area around the church are provided by statues of Christ on the Cross and
the Slavonic missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius.
The Parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Vyškov -
the first mention of the parish of Vyškov and a church date back to 1328. The
original building was destroyed during the Hussite Wars, and a new church built
in 1464. The church acquired its present appearance following numerous
renovations and repairs. The main altar was also rebuilt in its present form
some time after the middle of the 19th century, and the original organ replaced
in 1912.
The Hospital Chapel of Saint Anne - the history of the chapel is
not known with any certainty. It was evidently built during the first half of
the 16th century, as the late Gothic appearance of this smallish single-nave
building and the surviving inscription “ANNO DOMINI 1584” in the wall paintings
in the vaulted ceiling suggest. The Chapel of Saint Anne was one of the few
buildings to survive without damage the destructive fire that hit the town in
1753. It became town property in 1974 and now serves the purposes of the Museum
of the Vyškov Region.
The chateau was built on the site of a medieval castle evidently
built after the Hussite Wars. It was destroyed during an incursion by the army
of Czech King George of Poděbrady, but was rebuilt soon afterwards. The chateau
acquired its present appearance following the Thirty Years’ War as part of
extensive reconstruction initiated by Bishop Karel Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn.
Following the fire of 1753 the chateau was never again to serve as a noble seat.
It was the venue for a meeting between Austrian Emperor Franz I and Russian Czar
Alexander I on the eve of the battle of Austerlitz. The older part of the
chateau is now home to the Museum of the Vyškov Region, while its newer wing
serves the purposes of the local authority. The loggia in the chateau gardens is
the work of the episcopal architect Giovanni Pietr Tencalla. Its front is formed
of seven arches supported by Tuscan columns, and the cornice is decorated with a
balustrade.
At first sight the Town Hall building in Masaryk Square impresses
with its tall Renaissance tower. The Town Hall was built in the years 1568 -
1569. It was burnt out relatively soon after it was completed (1609) and another
disaster struck in the form of the catastrophic fire of
1753. The Town Hall tower
was built in front of a former archway, and the individual floors of the tower
are optically divided on the outside by simple cornices. There are three
coats-of-arms above a window on the first floor - the coat-of-arms of the
Bishopric of Olomouc, the coat-of-arms of Bishop Vilém Prusinovský of Víckov,
and the coat-of-arms of the Town of Vyškov dated 1569. There is a relief
depicting the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Dietrichstein above a window on the
second floor. The present appearance of the tower and gallery is the result of
post-war renovation.
The former Synagogue - now the Church of the Czechoslovak Hussites
- was built in the Neo-Romanesque style in 1885. The Jewish community sold the
synagogue to the local museum, which it served in 1929. Following extensive
renovation, the former synagogue began serving its present purpose in 1957.
Other important monuments in Vyškov include the Marian plague column in
the square, commemorating the plague epidemic of 1713 - 1714, and a Baroque
fountain dating back to the second quarter of the 18th century.