Pardubice

Pardubice was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by the Pernstejn family after a fire, and the result is Pernstynske namesti: a square of Renaissance houses with gables and sgraffito, entered through the Green Gate tower of 1507, which is climbable. The chateau beside it is a Renaissance residence inside a bastioned earthwork of the same period, one of the earlier examples of that kind of fortification north of the Alps, and it holds the regional museum and a gallery. The town is known nationally for two things. Pernik - gingerbread - has been made here since the Middle Ages and Pardubice gingerbread is the standard version, with a museum in a nearby chateau. And the Velka pardubicka steeplechase, run since 1874 over about six and a half kilometres with the Taxis ditch among its obstacles, is the most demanding race of its kind in continental Europe and a matter of national argument about horse welfare.

History

The name comes from the Polish personal name Porydęb, borne by the leader of monks who came here from Poland, and was first recorded as Pordobice. Pardubice is first mentioned in 1295, when Pope Boniface VIII took under his protection the local Church of Saint Bartholomew and its canons; in the first half of the 14th century a noble family, later called the Lords of Pardubice, acquired it, and in 1340, when Arnošt of Pardubice inherited it, it was first called a city. Vilém II of Pernštejn bought it in 1491 and made it the centre of his estate, and the Pernštejns built the whole historic centre with its Renaissance square and rebuilt the medieval castle into a comfortable fortified residence, until debts forced them to sell to Emperor Ferdinand I in 1560. In the Thirty Years' War General Lennart Torstensson besieged the city without taking it. The railway from Prague to Olomouc, completed in 1845, made Pardubice an important junction and brought food, engineering and chemical industry; the Velká pardubická steeplechase was first run in 1874, and in 1910 Jan Kašpar made the first successful flight in the Czech lands here, followed a year later by the first long-distance flight, from Pardubice to Prague (Wikipedia, Pardubice).

The main sights

• A Renaissance square - gabled sgraffito houses through the Green Gate of 1507.
• A chateau in earthworks - an early bastioned fortification round the residence.
• Gingerbread - the Pardubice tradition, with a museum nearby.
• The Velka pardubicka - run since 1874, the hardest steeplechase on the continent.

When to go

April to October; the race is the second Sunday in October. A day.

Before you go

Race day fills the city. The steeplechase is genuinely dangerous for horses and has drawn sustained criticism, which visitors should know before buying a ticket. Museums close on Mondays.

Nearby

Kuneticka hora is east; Hradec Kralove is north.

Key facts