Town in Pardubice, Czech Republic
Photo: Aquarie, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Litomyšl (German: Leitomischl) is a small city (10,000 inhabitants) in Eastern Bohemia. Its renaissance chateau is one of the 14 Czech sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the town is famous as the birthplace of composer Bedřich Smetana.
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It 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. The main external feature of the castle is the sgraffito decoration: what look from a distance like bricks are in fact designs made from etching away plaster to reveal the undercoat. Each design is different and the centres contain many different images, from leaves to people. A highlight of the interior is the preserved baroque theatrette, which is one of only five left in the world. The castle was the birth place of composer Bedřich Smetana, and the rooms in which he spent the first years of his life are open to the public.
Is a small museum dedicated to printmaker, painter and poet Josef Váchal. In the early 20th century Váchal was commissioned to paint the interior of the house belonging to his friend and publisher Josef Portman, and it’s this building that houses the museum. Visitors walk through several rooms in which every square inch has been covered with intensely coloured and expressionistic murals of nightmarish scenes. Even some of the furniture was painted and carved by Váchal.
Smetanovo náměstí
One of the prettiest in the country, and is almost surrounded by arcade fronted pastel painted houses from the renaissance period. The tower half way along belongs to the old town hall and features an ornate clock face and a plaque commemorating the use of a special medieval measurement known as a Czech Elbow.
A rock formation/town, which is part of bigger "Maštale" (meaning "Barns") area. The sandstone area includes deep rock ravines with an inverse climate, springs and moist forest meadows, forest ponds and dry rock tops with shallow sandy soil.
There is a good highway covering about 80% of the way from Prague (the rest is also acceptable).
Read in the guideThe historic centre of Litomyšl is small enough to cover on foot. The bus and train stations are a five minute and ten minute walk from the centre, respectively.
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Pardubice · International · PED
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