Jindrichuv Hradec

The castle at Jindrichuv Hradec grew from a thirteenth-century stronghold of the Vitkovci into a complex of about three hundred and twenty rooms across ten courtyards, which makes it the third largest in the country after Prague and Cesky Krumlov. Its most distinctive building is the Rondel, a free-standing round garden pavilion of the 1590s with a stuccoed and gilded interior of exceptional quality, built for the Renaissance court here and considered one of the finest such rooms in Central Europe. There are Gothic wall paintings of the St George legend in a chapel and a set of state rooms. The town around it has an arcaded square, and it holds two other things: a claim to sit on the fifteenth meridian, marked in the street, and the Kryza nativity scene, a mechanical crib of some fourteen hundred figures built by a stocking-maker over sixty years, in the district museum.

What you actually see

• Ten courtyards - the third-largest castle complex in the country.
• The Rondel - a round garden pavilion of the 1590s with a gilded stucco interior.
• Gothic St George paintings - a fourteenth-century cycle in the chapel.
• A mechanical nativity - about 1,400 figures, built over sixty years.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The Rondel and the state rooms are on separate guided routes, seasonal, and the Rondel opens on limited dates. Closed Mondays. The narrow-gauge railway runs a restricted timetable.

Nearby

Ceska Kanada begins south; Telc is east.