When you’re walking on the beach, feeling the sunshine on your skin and splashing water on your feet… Wait, something is wrong. Let’s start again!
When you’re walking on the street, feeling the cold in your body and raindrops or snowflakes on your face… Yes, that’s right. I’m back home. Back in the cold Czech Republic. Back in my hometown.
I think I have never told you anything about my hometown. Let me do it now.
My hometown Chrudim
Chrudim is a small town in the east of the Czech Republic. It’s located 110km to the east from Prague. It has around 23 000 inhabitants. It’s known as the “Athens of East Bohemia” for its wealth of cultural tradition that still exists till today. It’s a very old town. In 2013 it won the “Historic Town of 2013” title held by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
History
The archeological evidence points to habitation in the area of current inner city in the 9th to the 10th century. The first certain written mention of Chrudim is dated to 1055 when, according to Kosmas’s chronicle, the Czech ruler Břetislav I died here. The exact date of Chrudim’s founding is unknown but it was definitely established before 1276. Soon after that it became a dowry town of Bohemian Queens.
Main sights of the town
The rich history of the town reflected in its magnificent architecture. I would like to present you the most important buildings and sights of my hometown.
The Ressel square
The dominant building of the town is the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Originally, it was a gothic building with romanesque foundations, from the middle of 19th century with neo-gothic modification.
One of the oldest buildings of the town is the Old Town Hall. It was built in 15th century. In 1721 it was renovated in baroque style. You can see it on the photo below, together with the following sight.
In the middle of main square there is the Plague and Transfiguration Column. It originated with the Savior cult and great religious pilgrimages. It’s decorated with baroque sculptures.
Museums
The most important museum in Chrudim is the Museum of Puppets that is based in the beautiful Renaissance Mydlář house. The museum was opened in 1972. It owns around 50 000 exhibit objects, out of which there are more than 8 500 puppets from around the world. Part of the permanent exhibition is also a playroom with puppets. Visitors can try out in person how to perform puppet theatre. Every year at the beginning of July for more than 60 years the town has become the retreat for the puppeteers who come here to join the traditional Puppet Festival.
In Chrudim there is also the
Museum of Baroque Sculpture. It’s located in the reconstructed area of the Church of St. Joseph in the facility of the former Capuchin monastery in Chrudim. The museum exhibits consist of stone statues and wooden carvings of the highest quality.
The third museum is the
Chrudim Regional Museum that is currently housed in the neo-Renaissance building. It was founded in 1892. The museum has a big collection of artisan works and local collections from the region. The permanent exhibit includes an industrial art collections. There are also short-term exhibits focusing on local history, natural science and art.
Other place to see
In Chrudim there is also the Karel Pippich Theatre. that was built at the beginning of 19th century. The town doesn’t have its own permanent theatre ensemble, it only hosts other ensembles. The theatre also have its exhibition hall.
Where to have a coffee?
In my town there are many cafeterias and some of them have very nice sweets. I just want to mention two of my favourite places. On the first place is definitely “Královská cukrárna“. I think it’s a place with the best sweets and also very good priced. They also offer great coffee and other hot and cold drinks.My second favourite place is Smé café. I like it because it’s very nice inside, it’s near my house ?, it has also many tasty sweets. It’s a bakery as well. They have good coffee and many other drinks. They also serve wine but normally they close at 19:00.
Where to have a drink?
My favourite place for having a drink is
Caffé bar Americana. During the day it works like cafeteria and in the evening it’s a music bar where you can also dance. They have wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. I especially like the cocktails there.
Where to eat?
I would recommend two very nice restaurants that offer also daily menu from Monday till Friday. First one is Na Bídě, restaurant in Old Bohemian style. During the summer season they also have open-air terrace.The second restaurant is a family restaurant U Paluků. It also has an outside terrace with a view of Chrudim Museum.If you prefer healthy food, I would recommend you to go to Kruh zdraví. Every day they offer soup and three different meals. They have also vegetarian and gluten-free meals.
How to get to Chrudim?
First you need to get to Pardubice, town located about 10 km from Chrudim. Every day there are many trains coming from Prague or Brno. The trains are comfortable and quite fast. From Prague you can reach Pardubice in about an hour and from Brno in about an hour and half. In Pardubice you have to change the train and in about 20 minutes, you’ll get to the Chrudim train station.
Other opportunities
That was pretty much everything about my town. Even though it’s a small town, there are many opportunities where to go. During the winter the town is not so busy but during the summer, I suppose, it gets much busier especially because of the Puppet Festival. During that time there are many events, like plays, performances, concerts etc. Anyway, if you have the feeling that Chrudim cannot offer you what you want, there are still many places near the town that you can visit. Maybe I will just mention it next time.
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Dear Friend,
My name is Nerissa and I am Filipino and Italian. I am an expat, a traveler, and a mother. I have just created a website called http://www.peopleabroad.org to talk about the stories of people that for different reasons live or travel around the world.
I hope you could contribute with your personal story to this website. I would also appreciate if you can also publish summaries of some of your best articles that are currently on your blog/website also on PeopleAbroad.org (obviously, I will give you credits for your posts). An interview will also be appreciated.
I thank you for your precious time and, whatever your belief is, I wish you a peaceful time for Christmas.
All the best,
Nerissa
Very helpful advice on how to get to such intresting and beautiful places from Prague next time I come to Czech. Maybe look you up, Lucie!
Thankyou. Marguerite x
Thank you! When you come next time, you definitely have to get in touch with me :)