Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is situated in Central Europe landlocked between Poland, Germany, the Slovak Republic and Austria. With Prague as its fairytale capital this country offers a landscape of hillsides and picturesque sites.

The official language is Czech, English and German are also spoken throughout the country. Although its surface area is quite small, this country is a treasure trove of history, teeming with enchanting mediaeval castles and towns, magnificent national parks, elegant spa resorts, museums and art galleries.

Some of the sites not to miss are the historic towns of Melnik and Kutna Hora, and castles like Karlstejn and Konopiste as well as the spa resort of Karlovy Vary. The country also boasts 11 UNESCO World Heritage sites, notably the picturesque town of Cesky Krumlov, the chateaux and landscaped gardens of Lednice-Valtice, and the Renaissance architecture of Telc.

For nature lovers the Sumava National Park offers forested mountains and lakes, rock pinnacles, gorges, spectacular caves and underground rivers at the sites of Adrspach-Teplice Rocks and Moravian Karst. The wooded hills and vineyards of Moravia boast majestic castles, folk art and of course wine.

The climate is hot in summer and cold in winter, with rainfall during spring and summer.

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    Milotice Chateau

    Milotice Chateau. A strongly fortified Gothic water fortified house, possibly erected by Jan of Moravany after 1412, has probably been partly preserved in the southern wing of the current house.

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    Novy Svetlov Chateau

    Castle Novy Svetlov: the original fort was built in the 1480s to protect the town from the attacks of Hungarians. Later it was converted into a castle in the Neo-gothic style.

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    Old Town of Prague

    The Old Town of Prague is a medieval settlement of Prague, Czech Republic. It was separated from the outside by a semi-circular moat and wall, connected to the Vltava river at both of its ends. The moat is now covered up by the streets (from north to south-west) Revolucni, Na Prikope, and Narodni - which remain the official boundary of the cadastral community of Old Town. It is now part of Prague 1.

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    Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk

    The Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk at Zelena Hora is a religious building at the edge of Zdar nad Sazavou, Czech Republic, near the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. It is the final work of Jan Santini Aichel, a Bohemian architect who combined the Borrominiesque Baroque with references to Gothic elements in both construction and decoration.

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    Prostejov Chateau (Castle)

    The Prostejov Chateau (Castle), with four wings around a central courtyard and enclosed by a moat on its south and west sides, is situated on the north-west edge of the historical centre, on the line of the original town walls.

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    Sedlec Ossuary

    The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic. It is one of twelve World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic.

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    Slavkov Palace

    Slavkov Castle (also known as Austerlitz Castle) is a Baroque palace in Slavkov u Brna, in the Czech Republic. The small town and the castle are chiefly known for the Battle of Austerlitz.

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    Sostyn Castle (Ruins)

    Sostyn Castle (Ruins). Once a base of the domain of Olomouc´s bishops, the castle dates back to the second half of the 13th century.

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    St. Procopius Basilica, Trebic

    St. Procopius Basilica is a Romanesque-Gothic Christian church in Trebic, Czech Republic. It was built on the site of the original Virgin Mary's Chapel of the Benedictine monastery in 1240–1280. It became a national cultural monument in 2002 as a part of the "monastery with St. Procopius church". The basilica together with the Jewish Quarter in Trebic were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

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    Stary Jicin Castle (Ruins)

    Nowadays the large ruin of a castle with romantic coves of dilapidated walls and casemates harkens to a once unbreakable castle on a hill close to Novy Jicin. The castle was founded at the beginning of the 13th century by the Huckeswagen dynasty.

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    Telc

    Telc (Telč) is a town in southern Moravia, near Jihlava, in the Czech Republic. The town was founded in the 13th century as a royal water fort on the crossroads of busy merchant routes between Bohemia, Moravia and Austria.

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    Villa Tugendhat

    Villa Tugendhat is a historical building in the wealthy neighbourhood of Cerna Pole in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Built of reinforced concrete between 1928 and 1930 for Fritz Tugendhat and his wife Greta, the villa soon became an icon of modernism.

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    Vizovice Palace

    Vizovice Palace. The Baroque castle (palace) was built in 1710-1784 Hermann of Blumengen by the plans of architect Franz Grimm instead of former Cistercians monastery Rosa Mariae from 1216.

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    Vsetin Chateau

    The dominating castle is the oldest historical building of Vsetin. This renaissance castle with a courtyard and the fringe arcades was built at the beginning of the 17th century (the first historical record is from 1610). Vsetin Chateau.

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    Zdislavice Castle

    he nearby fortress of Zdislavice was documented in 1349. The castle was rebuilt as a Baroque palace in the late 17th century. Later a possession of the Czech baronial Dubsky of Trebomyslice family, it was the birthplace of the famous Austrian writer Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach on 13 September 1830.

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    Zerotinsky Castle (Chateau), Novy Jicin

    The renaissance chateau in the centre of Novy Jicin was built in the 16th century in the location of the town castle. After the departure of the Zerotins the building was adapted to the town-hall, which is a landmark of Novy Jicin centre.