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.

History

The area has been lived in for almost 8,000 years, and the settlement here is first mentioned in 1143. The town was founded in the 13th century at Staré Místo near Veliš Castle and soon moved north to a site better protected by the Cidlina; Jičín itself is first named in a document of Queen Judith of 1 August 1293, laid out round a rectangular square with wooden walls. King John sold the royal town to the Wartenbergs in 1337; from 1487 it belonged to the Trčka of Lípa family, who rebuilt it in stone, added the Valdice Gate in 1568-1578 - the only gate that survives - and, after a fire in 1572, replaced the wooden houses with sgraffitoed Renaissance ones. Zikmund Smiřický acquired it in 1607 and built a larger castle. Its great expansion began in 1621, when Albrecht von Wallenstein made it the capital of his Duchy of Friedland and minted coins here: Italian architects rebuilt the castle and the church of St James, joined them by a covered bridge, gave the Jesuits a college in 1627 and laid out a summer house and game park at Valdice reached by a lime avenue. After Wallenstein's death in 1634 the town lost much of its importance, and in 1710 it passed to the Trauttmansdorffs, who completed many High Baroque buildings (Wikipedia, Jičín).

What's there

• 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.

Things to know

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.

Key facts