Chrudim

Puppet theatre in the Czech lands is not a children's sideline: travelling puppeteers played in Czech through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the language was under pressure, family puppet theatres were in ordinary households, and Czech and Slovak puppetry is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list. Chrudim is where that is gathered. The Muzeum loutkarskych kultur occupies the Mydlar house, a Renaissance building of 1573 with a distinctive gabled tower, and holds several thousand puppets - Czech marionettes and rod puppets from the eighteenth century onward, family theatres, workshop material, and a large international collection from Asia and elsewhere. The town hosts Loutkarska Chrudim, a national puppetry festival running since 1951, each summer. The old town has a square with arcades and a Gothic church, and it sits above the Chrudimka valley.

What you actually see

• Several thousand puppets - Czech marionettes and rod puppets from the 1700s on.
• The Mydlar house - a Renaissance building of 1573 with a gabled tower.
• An international collection - Asian and other traditions alongside the Czech.
• A national festival - Loutkarska Chrudim, held each summer since 1951.

When to go

April to October; the festival in early summer. A day.

Honest expectations

The museum closes on Mondays and keeps shorter winter hours. Festival week fills the town. Labelling is largely Czech, though the puppets carry themselves.

Nearby

Pardubice is twelve kilometres north; the Zelezne hory rise south.