Hradec Kralove

Hradec Kralove was a fortress town until the fortress was abolished in 1884 and its ramparts demolished from 1893, and what happened next is why architects come here: the town commissioned Jan Kotera and then his pupil Josef Gocar to plan the new city, and between about 1905 and 1939 they got to design not just buildings but the street layout, the blocks and the relationships between them. Kotera's museum of 1912 is a landmark of early Czech modernism; Gocar's school complex, the Ambrose church, the Grand Hotel and the boulevard of Ulrichovo namesti are a coherent interwar city, and Hradec has been called the Salon of the Republic for it. The old town on the hill above keeps its Gothic cathedral of the Holy Spirit and the White Tower of 1589, climbable. The confluence of the Elbe and the Orlice runs below with embankments and bridges by the same designers.

History

The name means "queen's castle": Hradec, a small castle, gained "Králové" when it belonged to the queens of Bohemia. The castle is first recorded in the Chronica Boemorum, written in 1119-1125, under the year 1091, and the town in 1225, already called a city. From 1306 it was a dowry town of the queens, who lived here - Elizabeth Richeza of Poland in 1308-1318, Elizabeth of Pomerania in 1378-1393 - and it became a centre of learning and culture. Fires in 1290, 1339 and 1407 hastened its rebuilding; in 1420 the Hussites took it and made it a military centre, and in 1423 they destroyed the queens' castle. It flourished again under George of Poděbrady, but after joining the revolt against Ferdinand I in 1547 it lost property and privileges. The Swedish army took it in 1639, and it came out of the Thirty Years' War almost destroyed, recovering in Baroque form. In 1766 Joseph II decided to build a great fortress here; finished in 1789 and covering 320 hectares, it reshaped the town and the courses of the Elbe and Orlice, yet was never used in war. The battle of Königgrätz was fought nearby on 3 July 1866, the fortress was abolished in 1884 and its walls were pulled down between 1893 and 1914 (Wikipedia, Hradec Králové).

What you'll find

• A city designed as a whole - Kotera and Gocar planning layout as well as buildings.
• Kotera's museum of 1912 - a landmark of early Czech modernism.
• Gocar's interwar quarter - schools, church, hotel and boulevard as one scheme.
• The old town above - the Gothic cathedral and the climbable White Tower of 1589.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Practical notes

The interest is urbanism, which takes some reading - a guide or a map of the buildings helps a great deal. Interiors are mostly not open. Museums close on Mondays.

Nearby

Pardubice is south; Hradek u Nechanic and Karlova Koruna are west.

Key facts