Jicin

Albrecht von Wallenstein made Jicin the capital of his Duchy of Friedland in the 1620s and set about rebuilding it as a residence town on an Italian model, with an arcaded square, a chateau, a Jesuit college, a church and a planned composition running out into the landscape. The centrepiece of that is still there: a lime avenue, planted around 1630, running dead straight for about four kilometres from the edge of the town to a loggia in the park at Valdice, aligned so the whole thing reads as one axis - one of the earliest and largest baroque landscape compositions in Central Europe. Wallenstein was assassinated in 1634 and the scheme was left unfinished. The square is arcaded with the Valdice gate tower of 1568, climbable. Jicin is also the gateway to the Prachovske skaly rock city and the town of the Rumcajs children's stories.

What you actually see

• A four-kilometre lime avenue - planted about 1630 on a dead straight axis.
• Wallenstein's planned town - the arcaded square, chateau and Jesuit college.
• The Valdice gate tower - of 1568, climbable, over the square.
• A scheme cut short - abandoned when Wallenstein was killed in 1634.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Honest expectations

The avenue is walked or cycled and takes real time to appreciate. The chateau interiors are limited and seasonal. The Rumcajs association is aimed at Czech families and means little to others.

Nearby

Prachovske skaly are a few kilometres west; Sobotka and Kost are south-west.