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Ceský Krumlov (Chess-key Crumb-love)


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The town of Ceský Krumlov is one of the most beautiful and historically most preserved towns in Bohemia. Because of this the town was proclaimed a State Town Reserve in 1963, and at the end of 1992 it became a Reserve shielded by UNESCO as one of the rarest world historical monuments.

B Krumlov Map.jpg (10197 bytes) Map of Ceský Krumlov

The name Krumlov is first mentioned in a document from 1253. At that time the Krumlov castle, the town and its surroundings belonged to the Barons of Krumlov. After the Barons' dynasty died off in 1302, the town and the dominion became the possession of the Roûmberk dynasty, and it was the dynasty's residence. Vilém of Roûmberk (1592), the outstanding person and dynasty member, had the old unsuitable medieval castle rebuilt into a Renaissance nobiliary mansion. At the same time, town development was extensive, culminating at the end of the 16th century. Petr Vok of Roûmberk (1611), Vilém's brother, sold the dominion and the town in 1601 and the promising development of the town stopped. The next ruling dynasties were Habsburg, then Eggenberg (in 1622) and then Schwarzenberg (in 1719). The town, stagnating more or less during these changes of ruling families, started to recover again at the end of the last century. Ceský Krumlov has become an administrative, economical and cultural center for the large surrounding area.

 

April 1994

Three of us from the MITRE Stuttgart office (Al Moyer, Jerry Goulet, and myself) went on a beer pilgrimage to the home of the European Budweiser; Çeské Budêjovice (also know as Budvar, or Budweis in German), in the Czech Republic. We also visited Ceský Krumlov as a day trip as part of the overal trip....

B Krumlov Panorama.jpg (3437 bytes) Panorama Mosaic of Ceský Krumlov

On Saturday, after breakfast of cheeses, long thick sticks of bread, sliced meats, liver pate, and eggs fried in a poacher (and coffee, of course), we headed off to the bus station to take the bus to Ceský Krumlov, a medieval village about 30 km south of Çeské Budêjovice. Ceský Krumlov is an intact medieval town, with ancient cobblestone streets, a palace with tower up on the hill overlooking the town and the River Moldau, and lots of shops and restaurants. It's a lot like Rothenberg ob de Tauber might be with only one third the tourists, and it has a Bohemian flavor to it, with a certain architectural style and decoration on the buildings.We arrived in Ceský Krumlov after about an hour's bus ride (12 Krowns, about 40 cents), and walked though the town (I filmed a lot of the town, too). We bought CD's of Czech folk music and other classical CDs (around $5-$6 each), crystal champagne glasses (570 Krowns for 6, about $19), picture books of the town (hard-cover glossy ones with great pictures, about $4; paperback ones telling the story of the town, about 50 cents), and of course lots of postcards. We ate lunch late enough (and the cook was slow enough) to delay our departure until 6 PM instead of 3 PM (busses run reasonably frequently but not hourly on weekends), so to kill more time (not difficult in this town), we climbed the hill to the old palace grounds, and found more gift shops and spectacular views of the town, the river, and the surrounding countryside. I bought a pen & ink sketch, a Nazi coin from 1939, complete with swatztika, and more postcards. Lunch, by the way, was overlooking the Moldau River with the palace in the foreground behind the river.

940423 055-12 B Krumlov - Bridge Entrance To Old Part of Town.jpg (5712 bytes) Bridge Entrance To Old Part of Town
940903 064-10a B Krumlov - Wooden Bridge Over the Moldau.jpg (12712 bytes) Wooden Bridge Over the Moldau
940904 064-18a B Krumlov - View through the Palace Wall.jpg (5908 bytes) View through the Palace Wall

 

September 1994

For the long weekend over Labor Day in September, the whole family (and Al & Jean) returned to the place where Gene and AL had previously visited in the Czech Republic. We spent almost all our time in the medieval Bohemian town called Ceský Krumlov, but this time we drove rather than taking the train. It was, again, quite an experience. The eastern block countries have not recovered from their 45+ years behind the iron curtain, but they're working triple-time to catch up, and it shows! Prices there for everything are very inexpensive, from hotel rooms to Bohemian crystal to souvenirs. It is a bargain-hunters paradise!

 

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