CZECH REPUBLIC 279

Mikulov e

251 km (156 miles) SE of Prague.

• 8,000. £ @ n Náměstí 1, 519
  510 899. http://www.mikulov.cz

Built on a hillside close to
the Austrian border east of
Znojmo, Mikulov is a pic ture-
postcard town with delight ful
streets and some fine
Renaissance and Baroque
houses. Mikulov Castle (zámek
Mikulov), originally 13th-cen-
tury but much altered, was
used by the Gestapo, the
sec ret state police of Nazi
Germany, to hoard confis-
cated art objects. It was burnt
down in the final days of
World War II. Rebuilt in the
1950s, it now houses the local
museum and has a large col-
lec tion of portraits of
Habsburg royalty and car-
dinals. It also has fine vaults,
which were used for cen turies
to store locally made wine.
In the mid-19th century
Mikulov was home to the
sec ond largest Jewish com-
munity in the Czech region.
Its once thriving Jewish
quarter, with a renovated
16th-century synagogue, lies to
the west of the castle. Round
the corner on Brněnská ulice,
a rugged path leads to a medi-
e val Jewish ceme tery which
has over 4,000 graves and
finely car ved marble tomb -
stones dating back to 1605.

+ Mikulov Castle

Zámek 1. Tel 519 309 019.

# Apr, Oct: 9am–4pm Tue–Sun;

Jul, Aug: 9am–6pm Tue–Sun; May,

Jun, Sep: 9am–5pm Tue–Sun. &

http://www.rmm.cz

Mikulov Castle, set above the red rooftops of the pretty town of Mikulov

Sumptuous furnishings in the Imperial Room, Archbishop’s Palace, Kroměříž

Kroměříž t

271 km (169 miles) SE of Prague.

* 30,000. £ @

The historic town of Kroměříž,

with its lovely gardens and

archi tec turally appealing

build ings, has survived the

Communist period relatively

unscathed. The main square,

Velké náměstí, has been care-

fully restored and is one of

the prettiest in Moravia. The

main attraction, just north of

the square, is the magnificent

UNESCO-listed Archbishop’s

Palace (Arcibiskupský zámek),

the seat of the Bishops of

Olomouc between the

12th and the 19th centuries.

This vast Baroque fortress has

some splendidly furnished

rooms and houses the

impres sive art collection

of the Liechtenstein family,

with works by Titian, Van

Dyck, Veronese and Cranach.

Among the highlights is the

Assembly Hall, where talks

were once held by the exiled

Austrian Imperial Parliament

from 1848–9, during which

they drafted a new constitu-

tion. The Imperial Room

includes por traits of Franz

Joseph I, who went hunt ing

here with Tsar Alexander III.

Their trophies can be seen

in the Hunting Hall. Above

the main entrance, the Vassals’

Hall (Mansky sál) has a

mag nif icent ceiling fresco

(1759) by the Viennese

artist F A Mauelbertsch, while

the library houses 90,000

volumes dating from the

16th and 17th centuries.

Brno r

See pp280–81.

+ Archbishop’s Palace

Sněouní náměstí 1. Tel 573 502

11. 
    

    Apr, Oct: 9am–4pm Sat &

    
    

    Sun; May, Jun, Sep: 9am–5pm Tue–
    Sun; Jul, Aug: 9am–6pm Tue–Sun
    (or by appt). & 8 2 routes.