Klasterec nad Ohri

Klasterec has made porcelain since 1794, when a factory was founded on the estate using local kaolin, and it became one of the significant Bohemian producers - the industry here and at Karlovy Vary supplied the Habsburg lands and exported widely. The chateau, a Renaissance and later baroque house of the Thun family beside the Ohre, now holds a branch of the Prague decorative arts museum with the largest collection of porcelain in the country: Bohemian production from the eighteenth century onward, Meissen, Vienna, Sevres and a substantial group of Asian export ware. The park around it is English landscape with old trees, sculpture by Jan Brokoff and a spa section using local mineral springs. The town sits between the Ore Mountains and the Doupovske hory. It is a quiet place and the collection is better than the town's profile suggests.

What you actually see

• The national porcelain collection - the largest in the country, in the chateau.
• Bohemian and European ware - local production alongside Meissen, Vienna and Sevres.
• A Thun family house - Renaissance and baroque beside the Ohre.
• An English park - old trees, Brokoff sculpture and mineral springs.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Closed Mondays and reduced in winter. The collection is specialist and the labelling assumes interest. The town is quiet with limited food. The park is free and open all year.

Nearby

Kadan and its old town are downstream; the Ore Mountains rise north.