West of Prague

Autumn is usually very grey in the Czech Republic and one is lucky when more than one weekend during the entirety of November and December turn out to be sunny. The good weather allotted for this gloomy period fell on Saturday, which is why my sister Naty, our dad, and I made a long trip around the sights just to the west (and northwest) of Prague.

We made our first stop at the castle Okoř, whose golden walls above frosty fields we saw in the warm glow of the rising sun. The castle was founded in the latter half of the thirteenth century, but it is unclear by whom. It switched hands numerous times and was heavily damaged during the Thirty Years’ War, but it’s final transformation into a ruin was caused by the dissolution of the Jesuit order, who had been the castle’s last owners.

We continued north-westward for a little over half an hour to stop by the unfinished Cathedral of Our Lady in Panenský Týnec. We were the first people there, much to the annoyance, it appeared, of a few people who arrived afterwards, as the strange structure is said to stand in a “zone with strong positive energy” that many attempt to absorb in solitude. The unfinished Cathedral dates to the fourteenth century and the reason for it being left unfinished is unclear, though lack of funding is a prime suspect.

We continued westwards to another rather mysterious and obscure sight: The Stone Shepherd Menhir near Klobuky. On our way there, we took in the beautiful panorama of the Central Bohemian Highlands, a string of rolling hills that are actually extinct volcanoes. The Stone Shepherd Menhir stands in the middle of a field, surrounded by a circle of short hedges. Due to this somewhat unfortunate position most likely unforeseen by the menhir’s erectors (calling them builders, I think, would be giving them a little too much credit), we had to park the car on a piece of flat land to the side of the road, before walking towards the rock along a narrow trail.

Not much can be said with certainty of the menhir’s history, but it was most likely erected by the Boii, a Gallic tribe after whom Bohemia was named.

Now, my original plan was to drive straight to Nelahozeves, but at the last minute, I added a nearby chateau to the itinerary. We made a short stop, therefore, at the Chateau in Vraný, which is currently a care home but is famous for previously being home to, among others, the writer Svatopluk Čech.

The stop set into motion a chain of unforeseen events, for on our way to Nelahozeves, which is famous for being the birth town of Antonín Dvořák, we passed a road sign for the Museum of Antonín Dvořák and decided to follow it rather than trusting the navigation. This turned out to be a serendipitous mistake, as we ended up in the town Zlonice, where Dvořák lived briefly during his teenage years and to which he dedicated his first symphony “The Bells of Zlonice.” I took a few minutes to take pictures of the church where I assume Dvořák used to play the organ, as well as the museum nearby.

We made another unplanned stop in Velvary, since we thought we might as well see the town, which even has a pretty gate and even its own Marian column. It was only a short drive from there to Nelahozeves, where we saw (the outside of) Antonín Dvořák’s birth home, as well as Nelahozeves Chateau with its numerous sgraffiti.

Our final and longest stop was at Veltrusy, whose chateau was, in fact, the very reason why we undertook this winding trip in the first place. The picturesque chateau is primarily famous for its interesting colour and shape, but also for its sprawling ground with numerous bridges and bizarre structures (among them a sphinx, a round classicist temple, and a Greek temple). I am also told part of the film Amadeus was filmed at the chateau.