Kutna HoraTake a
walk around Kutná Hora and discover the history of the town that used
to stand just behind the royal City of Prague some centuries ago, town
that was called the jewel and the treasury of the country, town whose
wealth elevated the Czech kingdom on the pedestal of fame and power. The origins of Kutná Hora are usually linked with the development of monetary economy in the 13th century, however, the dawn of mining came a lot earlier. Surface traces of silver ore were probably discovered in the late 10th century by the Slavníks who had small silver coins – denars – struck at their settlement in Malín, today a part of Kutná Hora. After
the initial vagueness in historical facts, let’s proceed directly to
the discovery of local ore deposits. From the technical point of view,
silver was discovered by prospectors that systematically surveyed the
area of Českomoravská Vrchovina highlands. The first tangible
record of mining and processing of silver ore in the 13th century is a
nameless hamlet near Malín, which we have archaeological remains of.
Rumours about rich silver deposits attracted new settlers, thousands of
which were coming to the area mostly from neighbouring German speaking
regions, bringing along advanced manufacturing technology and social
system and thus becoming the leading group in the entire agglomeration.
Immediate surroundings of particular shafts saw the construction of
provisional dwellings, wooden chapels and primitive winding equipment.
The atmosphere of Kutná Hora at that time may have resembled the
atmosphere of American gold-miner’s settlements; contemporary records
talk about a “rush to Kutná” and mention the fact that the fame of
local mines spread across the border of the country. Medieval Silver Mine Part
of the mining-historical exposition of the Czech Museum of Silver is
also medieval mine located in the area between the main building of the
Museum - Hrádek.The mine was discovered in 1967 when a
hydro-geological exploration of the center of the town was carried out.
In the depth of approximately The
gallery was dug out in the gneiss of Kutná Hora crystallinic rocks
tightly by contact with base chalk conglomerates. Quartz and gneiss
nuggets of this conglomerate can be seen on many places on the roof. As
there are sediments containing calcite in the roof, similar phenomena
as in karst caves can be met in the gallery. Medieval miners used to
work by hands with two mining hammers – chisel and sledge-hammer.
Traces of these hammers can be seen on many places on the walls and the
roof of the corridor. Besides, there are copious small niches dug out
in the walls into which miners used to put away their pit lamps. About Hrádek Italian Court The
origins of the Italian Court are shrouded in mystery and historians can
only guess because no written resources and only a few artefacts dating
from the earliest history of the building have been preserved.
Presumably there used to be a little fortified castle that was later
chosen by the sovereign to become the seat of the new Central Mint.
Since the very beginning, the Italian Court was separated from the town
by fortified moats to protect the workshops, in which silver was
processed and coins were struck. The original building was
reconstructed at the turn of the 15th century, allegedly upon the
request of King Wenceslas II, and the chapel and the royal palace were
added. Fires accompanying the Hussite wars probably avoided the Italian
Court at all and thus it was able to retain its representative
appearance enabling to welcome significant visitors and host royal
assemblies. Another restoration was initiated by King George of Poděbrady
at the time of reintroduction of Prague Groschen. Jan Horstoffar of
Malešice, the ambitious highest mintmaster, had the adjacent
mintmaster’s house built at the end of the 15th century; he also
refurnished the chapel by purchasing new panel altars from Nuremberg,
his native town. Reconstruction activities were managed by Matyas
Rejsek. From the Baroque period dates only the fountain in the
courtyard (1739) and a few details. The Italian Court thus remained
virtually unchanged until the end of the 18th century, when the mint
and the mining office were abolished and the building began to decay. A
century passed and the condition was critical, some people even called
for its demolition. Eventually in the 1880s, municipal authorities
decided to carry out a vast reconstruction project under the direction
of the famous architect Ludvík Lábler. That involved mainly the
removal of ruined workshops; what remained were the royal palace, the
treasury and the chapel that was redecorated in the Art Nouveau style
by František and Marie Urban. Despite all transformations, the Italian
Court is one of the most valuable monuments of Kutná Hora. Its
neo-Gothic reconstruction is a great example of cultural preservation
methods and techniques a hundred years ago. Cathedral
of St. Barbara This
five-aisled Gothic cathedral is arguably the second most significant
church in the Czech Republic after the Cathedral of St. Vitus in
Prague. It was established as miners’ church which is documented by
its dedication to St. Barbara, the patroness of miners. The
construction was not finished until the break of the 19th and 20th
centuries. All around the church, rich sculptural and stone-mason late
Gothic decoration has been preserved; in some places, late Gothic wall
paintings have been preserved. There is Corpus
Christi Chapel near the cathedral - a square,
three-aisled space which was intended as ossuary. However, when Jesuits
were established in town in the 17th century, it started to be called
Corpus Christi Chapel because Holy Sepulchre was exhibited there at
Easter.
Stone
House Stone
Fountain
In
its struggle for self-presentation, Kutná Hora was not content with
simple public structures designed just to meet their purpose, the
municipality called for something extra. Such buildings included mainly
the monumental Town Hall built by Matyas Rejsek after 1490 – however,
that has not been preserved – and the Stone Fountain, burghers’
wordless tribute to water. That is to say water was always lacking in
Kutná Hora, therefore bringing a rich spring through a system of
wooden pipes right into the heart of the town was a creditable effort.
The Stone Fountain was built in 1495 and sometimes it is also ascribed
to Matyas Rejsek. This polygonal structure that was originally
decorated by a number of statues stands at a beautiful location on a
small square surrounded by a splendid complex of burgher houses. Cementary
Chapel with Ossuary A
cistercian monastery was founded near here in the year 1142. One of the
principal tasks of the monks was the cultivation of the grounds and
lands around the monastery. In 1278 King Otakar II of Bohemia sent
Henry, the abbot of Sedlec, on a diplomatic mission to the Holy Land.
When leaving Jerusalem Henry took with him a handful of earth from
Golgotha which he sprinkled over the cemetery of Sedlec monastery,
consequently the cemetery became famous, not only in Bohemia but also
throughout Central Europe and many wealthy people desired to be buried
here.The burial ground was enlarged during the epidemics of plague in
the 14 th century (e.g.in 1318 about 30 000 people were buried here)
and also during the Hussite wars in first quarter of the 15 th.
century. After 1400 one of the abbots had a church of All -Saints
erected in Gothic style in the middle of the cemetery and under it a
chapel destined for the deposition of bones from abolished graves, a
task which was begun by a half blind Cistercian monk after the year
1511. The charnel-house was remodelled in Czech Baroque style between
1703 - I710 by the famous Czech architect, of the Italian origin ,Jan
Blažej SANTIM-Aichl. The present arrangement of the bones dates from
1870 and is the work of a Czech wood-carver, František RINT (you can
see his name, put together from bones, on the right-hand wall over the
last bench).Our ossuary contains the remains of about 40 000 people.
The largest collections of bones are arranged in the form of bells in
the four corners of the chapel. The most interesting creations by
Master Rint are the chandelier in the centre of the nave, containing
all the bones of the human body, two monstrances beside the main altar
and the coat-of arms of the Schwarzenberg noble family on the left-hand
side of the chapel. Jesuit
College The
monumental Jesuit College was build according to plans by the famous
Baroque architect Domenico Orsi just next to St. Barbara’s Cathedral
between 1667 and 1703. Orsi designed an F-shaped ground plan to remind
of Habsburg kings Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III. The appearance is
quite austere, complying to Jesuit principles, only the front façade
resembles Italian palaces of the early Baroque period. The middle one
of the original three towers had to be removed for static reasons in
the mid-19th century. The artificial terrace in front of the College
was enclosed by a low wall with 13 sculptures of saints favoured by the
Jesuits, including St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Franz Xaverius, St.
Wenceslas and others. It was designed as a free resemblance of the
Charles Bridge in Prague, which linked the seat of the Jesuit order in
Prague, Klementinum, with its temple – St. Vitus’s Cathedral in
Prague Castle. The statues were created by the Jesuit František
Baugut, author of the Plague Column, during the years 1703 – 1716.
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