Srdínko
Srdínko

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 Dřevěný kostelík 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
 
Kostel Panny 
Marie Sedmibolestné   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.
Kostel Nejsvětější Trojice  
  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 Kostel1753. 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.