the gate to hradec nad moravicí castle.
close to krnov is the region of opava, which is situated in the low ash mountains ( nízký jeseník ). we explored three sights in one day: the castle in hradec nad moravicí, another castle in raduň and then the district's capital opava.
starting with the castle in hradec nad moravicí ( formerly called grätz castle ) we were immediately thrown into a fairytale scenery. the castle there is said to be the most beautiful castle in czechia, and it's really not hard to see why, as it is built upon a 264 meter high hill, overlooking the region and it comes up with a huge english landscape garden with an old tree population. also, the romantic architectural style is heavily contributing to the fairytale title as well! the castle consists actually of two castles, the red and the white one. the red palace is what you see first when you park in front of the complex. it's a brickstone structure that looks very gothic ( but isn't, because it was built between 1874 and 1881 - making it a neo-gothic castle ). the white palace is the older one of the two buildings, dating back to the renaissance era and even earlier, when the přemyslid dynasty built the very first castle in the 13th century. though it looks like a classical palace from the time during the 18th century, its layout and the underlying structures still have their foundations in renaissance architecture ( reconstruction of the formerly gothic castle was done from 1585 to 1620 ). the classical style facade came into being after 1796, when a fire broke out, destroying quite a bit of the older structure.
grätz castle is also well known in the classical music scene. every year there are events taking place here that offer classical music concerts. it's because two famous componists visiting the palace in the past, one of them being ludwig van beethoven and the other one being franz liszt. but despite these two figures being the main reason for the arrangement of musical happenings, the castle always has been a center of cultural importance as the last owners of the castle, the lichnovskýs, were acquainted with a lot of imporant artists, musicians & writers who would visit the property.
we actually had plans to enter the castle and have a tour, but unfortunately it was closed during our visit ( we have a tendency to visit sights in inopportune moments a lot, either they are closed for the day, or we are too late, or there is reconstruction going on 😅 ). the red palace was also fenced off due to aforementioned reconstructions, so i didn't get a lot of pictures of it. instead we opted to explore the property for a bit, enjoying the absolutely stunning castle garden ( which spans over 320 acres! ).
entering through the gate the coat of arms of the lichnovský family is greeting you ( albeit not entirely the original one - i am guessing it was modified a bit by one of the later members of the family ).
when you enter through the gate of the red palace you will immediately discover the white palace.
there were several majestic sycamores inside the front yard, and they all were illuminated beautifully by the wonderful autumn light!
looking back towards the red gate.
a side entry into the white palace. the building is a 4-winged cube with an inner courtyard ( which we didn't get to see, thanks to us visiting on the wrong day :P ). while the facade is quite inspired by classicist architecture, some elements still pointed to its renaissance history. this part of the white palace reminded me quite strongly of that era, especially the balcony above the entrance, which screams for late night impromptu serenades, right? ;)
the door was metal-clad with beautiful ornaments!
this tower looks older than it actually is, like it was built in ancient gothic times. but no, it isn't what it seems, it was built in 1887 and is the youngest structure of the whole palace complex!
from the platform of the white tower you can look back to the white palace's 'rear entrance'.
we happened to visit the castle after a rainy morning, the air full of moisture, slowly warming up by sunshine that appeared after the rain. it was a most perfect autumn day!
the colours inside the park were divine! autumn at its finest 🍂
here's the white tower again, with the white palace in the back.
close to the white tower you will enjoy this wonderful view down into st. mary's meadows into the direction of žimrovice where the river moravice cuts through the landscape. the stone structure down in the valley looks like the outline of an ancient chapel, but it's actually an art sculpture by the sculptor pavel charousek, erected during a symposium in 1998. it's supposed to be a symbol of life and the evidence of it on our planet, and i'm guessing it functions as a marker for possible space travellers looking down on this particular spot. they say it was made for 'the universe', but i doubt that the universe itself has the consciousness to identify the meaning behind this symbol.
a close-up. personally, i like to imagine that this was once a little chapel or a religious monument from the time we were still 'primitive' people, straight out of the bronze age.
this bridge only led over a ditch, but it still looked quite lovely ;) it would lead you to a lookout platform called beethoven's lookout.
the sculpture of a woman looking back to the white tower. notice the coy use of a lace bracelet someone left on her hand ;)
and a better frontal picture. so elegant!
we moved on to explore even more of the park. we didn't see the entirety of it during our visit, because it was really huge and expansive. it also got quite cold after a while as the winds up there were blowing strongly. if it weren't for the heavy winds and the consequent drop of the temperature, we could've spent an entire day there. the entrance for the castles excluded. for the tours the castle offers you can add an additional day!
many old trees, alive and dead, can be found inside the park.
this gate probably leads to the little village of kajlovec, which is a town district of hradec nad moravicí.
there were also some leftover bits of a former stone wall enclosing the park. the light was really good, creating a perfect fall moment.
i don't know if these boulders were naturally found here, but to me it looked extremely like something manmade. it reminded me a bit of ancient rune stones or stone altars. i'd probably use these as a place of contemplation throughout the seasons, heralding the beginning of each one. it exuded a wonderful witchy atmosphere.
we climbed a little bit higher even and would eventually end up on top of a hill overlooking the surrounding landscapes.
i can never get enough of autumnal tree coloration.
occasionally you would stumble upon some ground openings of the hill, giving you an insight on the rocky underground.
in the far back on the left you can see the opava valley which is part of the silesian lowlands.
oh, those maple tree leaves get me everytime.
when we finally reached a plateau on top of the hill we had an awesome view onto the high ash mountains! their peaks were covered in snow 😍 the little village you see here is probably žimrovice or benkovice, but i am not entirely sure. i lean to the latter, as i think žimrovice was situated more down in st. mary's valley.
i think the right peak might be the praděd, the tallest mountain of the high ash mountain range. if you look very closely, you can see the distinct tv tower that resides on top of the 1491 meter high mountain.
from the plateau we were standing on you could really feel the chilly wind ( that i think came from the direction of the high ash mountains, were winter already found its way in ). and since we felt really cold we decided to head back, with plans to check out opava, the district's capital.
mom standing in front of the red gate. since the rest of the red palace was under construction this is the only picture of some part of the building.
on our way to opava we noticed a sign that told us there was another castle nearby in a village called raduň. on a whim, we decided to check that one out as well 😅
some of the houses in raduň reminded me of traditional hungarian homes. maybe they have something in common? i doubt this, though, as the two countries developed differently and weren't influenced by each other.
this building was once a granary but now seems to be a place for events. it is part of the castle's property.
raduň castle, as you see it now, is the product of an architect called johann anton englisch who remodeled the former renaissance castle into a neo-classical structure for johann of larisch-moennich, a local squire. that happened between 1816 and 1826. before that it had already been the home to other czech nobles, namely the tvorkov family, who built the aforementioned renaissance castle in the 16th century. it seems like this castle can also be visited by tourists, but in the month of october it only was opened at the weekends and we visited outside of that space of time. so again, we only had left the option of exploring its surroundings. this time we didn't explore the castle's park, though ( which was another not very small sized park - about 15 hectares of landscape ), we only looked at the nearby buildings like the granary, the orangery, a ruinous former sheep shelter & some administrative buildings. the whole castle terrain had an air of oblivion, there was almost no other person around, probably because it was really cold by now and like most heritage sites they are often only visited during spring and summer, when everything is flowering and green and looks glorious and fairytale-like. the greyness of autumnal days often emphasizes the disuse of castles, that mainly open in warmer seasons only because then the cold can't damage their interiors which is often very sensitive to autumn and winter temperatures.
despite the frigid temperatures outside i still enjoyed this little place, it felt secluded in a very comfortable and sort of withdrawing way. like it was a hidden gem at 'the end of the world'.
the entrance columns were covered in vines and the whole set-up was perfectly autumnal.
i don't know what sort of grape vine this was, because the grapes were so tiny, but i still liked the strange look of them attached to the columns. also, vine leaves generally are taking on the most beautiful colouration in fall, which i am always utterly smitten with.
i count this as proof, because... look at this variety!
the main entrance into the castle. the decorations were so cute and inviting!
this pond is situated directly behind the castle and is basically a fish pond where you officially can catch fish!
all around the castle's facades you could find fan trellises of vines, which was a detail i particularly liked. there were all kinds of vines with grapes in different states of ripening. we even snatched a few grapes off them and tried them, they were really sweet and juicy, almost on the verge of turning into raisins. and they all looked so delicious!
these golden ones were especially tasty!
together with the yellow frames of the windows they created quite a wonderful autumnal motive!
the orangery, which was built in 1824/25 and apparently it houses a big collection of citrus fruit, but we couldn't get a closer look as it was also closed.
a few lemon trees were still outside in the yard ( which you could glimpse into ). it probably wasn't going to be long until it would be too cold for them, but when we visited they still looked healthy ( and delicious :P )
i think in spring and summer this must really look beautiful!
a shot through the windows of the orangery. looked very inviting!
there are several buildings on the property of the castle as well that looked like they had once been used for administrative work and housings of domestic workers. they looked pretty run down from afar, but when you inched closer you could see that they were still used today, namely as living quarters!
in that light, my inner opinion of 'this looks so run down', went to 'oh, that rustic exterior is so chic!'
this door somehow had a major witchy vibe going on, with the strange mobiles attached to it.
these are serviceberries and they are edible! we had some and they were soft and sweet, with a hint of marzipan. i was very surprised that they were edible, my dad pointed it out! i always thought these were not for consumption.
another structure on the castle grounds was this one, a sheep shelter ( apparently from 1841 ). i think it once was pretty majestic and therefore the sheep probably must've felt very royal ;)
proof that the building was indeed erected in 1841. it's the roman way to write numerals. as you can also see, the shed wasn't in a good shape, i thought it even worse than the former administrative buildings. i think someone really should try to reinvigorate this place, make it something special again.
until then, this sort of counts as a lost place to me. as a structure geek i was still very enamoured with the decay 😍
the door looked very inviting...
... so i slipped inside very quickly and snapped a few interior shots! looks like they at least removed the core, so maybe that meant that they had future plans for it?
there's something about unused old buildings that feels very dystopic and at the same time very alluring.
you can still clearly see that it was once used as a sheep shed, as to each side of the corridor must have once been the boxes where they would've been held.
two eyes out into the world.
there were also some smaller rooms that allegedly could've been some office/bathroom set-up.
and i discovered this tiny bit of wallpaper, which boasted a pattern i am very familiar with! such patterns were often made with pattern rollers to spice up bland walls and they were most commonly used in the 50ies ( but widely used between the 40ies and 70ies ). i've seen it in old houses quite a lot and most of the time in places that once belonged to the eastern bloc ( especially in the former GDR ). i love finding wallpapers like these! i also would really like to decorate my own flat with such patterns, obviously, as they remind me of bauhaus typography/art and 50ies abstract minimalism ❤ maybe i should find me a vintage roller and start painting?
the bathroom situation.
there wasn't much else to see inside the shed, so i went back outside were we discovered a path that lead through a field to a cemetery. we only walked a tiny bit of that path, but didn't follow through to the cemetery.
that sidewalk was entirely made out of rocks and it wasn't very old either, apparently they set it up fairly recently with money from a european culture fonds? the schist rocks sparkled in the sunlight ( that had taken reign again after being absent for a bit ). i really loved that detail and had to try to catch the glimmer.
you had a lovely view on the opava valley from here ( and apparentely i seem to have forgotten to take a picture of it lol ).
the sheep shed from one of its unassuming sides. if you had encountered it like this, you wouldn't think that it actually was a bit more special. the empire style of the main facade takes it up a notch, right?
approaching the granary again.
... now illuminated in wonderful october light with tree skeleton shades on its facade! it is always astounding how different something can appear when the light changes.
the granary was first built in 1752 and then brought into the baroque style around 1828.
we finished our visit in raduň and then finally drove to opava, the capital city of opava district. we arrived there in the late afternoon and first had a rest stop at a cafe before using the last bright hours of the day to roam through the city.
opava ( once also called troppau ) is a medium scale city with about 56.000 inhabitants. it's been the capital city of the region through various different occupations and was also one of the most important cities in czech silesia back in the day. since we didn't spend a lot of time here, i can't really give a definitive answer if the city is worth visiting, but from what i've seen i think it surely has quite a few things to offer. the inner city is full of those pastel coloured houses i've been raving about since day one of revisiting these pictures and also full of interesting architecture from more modern times as well! throw in some historic churches, socialist architecture and a trolley coach system and you've got quite an eclectic mix of city layout :) i would've loved to explore more, but we were at the end of our energy levels after already having visited 2 different sights the same day.
that aside, let me give you a tiny tour through opava.
the first thing we needed to locate was a public restroom 😂 BUT no one prepared us for the piece of art that it would turn out to be! thus, i start the tour showcasing a restroom building ;P this is the 'white' and sunny side.
and a quick mirror shot from within the public restroom ;) loved the patterned metal wall!
the black and shadow-y side! this was a restroom that really made an impression and was a real eye-catcher.
this building was right next to a gothic church and the contrast of that alone just was very stark to me. also, it reminded me of typical GDR administrative buildings, built and erected only for their functional purpose. as it turns out, i wasn't that wrong about it, though it had nothing to do with administrative purposes, but actually with commerce. this complex was built between 1966 and 1972 by josef krischke as a small shopping and restaurant center.
it mostly looked unoccupied except for a few shops on the ground level. because of the opening of a new shopping center in close vicinity the whole complex isn't attractive for vendors anymore and the city itself didn't find a successful enough concept to use it further yet.
in the back you can see the church i mentioned earlier - the church of our lady of the assumption, which is a co-cathedral, meaning, that it is basically a second seat of the actual main cathedral in the diocese of ostrava-opava, which this church is subordinated in. we didn't get closer to that church, as we only had food on our minds :P
apparently the cathedral was built in the 13th century, though it is not clear when exactly. it's a good representative of silesian brickstone architecture, but unfortunately i missed my chance to check it out further.
the townhouse architecture in opava is similar to german cities, i guess, because at the time they were built a lot of germans resided in the city and shaped the image of its layout. you can find a lot of wilhelminian architecture, heavily historicized.
but one could also encounter modern buildings as well, inspired by the prospect of futuristic cities. unfortunately i am only able to guess their date of origin and i would place this one's origin in the 80ies. it reminded me of basalt rock formations, for example this one. of course it is simplified, but the resemblance still is apparent!
it stood right next to a pink sweven of the old times and therefore created my favourite kind of architecture clash: brutalism vs. historism.
also, aren't the little pinnacles on top of the building a really cute detail?
walking randomly through the city's streets also made me aware of some more socialist remnants like this relief showing a perfect socialist family. discovering shabby corners with proof of a distinctive history that most of the world wants to be forgotten and covered up is just right up my alley ;)
oh, socialist propaganda, you are not that different from today's depictions of happy families, albeit the amount of kids in a family has decreased a little.
on the other side of the same street, a little bit further down, i stumbled upon this gem... and fell in love again. i sometimes can't help myself and develop a hard crush on buildings 😂 it belongs to the geodetic and cadastral inspectorate in opava. again, i can't find any information on the architect or the date of origin, but i would like to estimate a time between 1970 and 1980. i could also be totally wrong and it might be a mid-century building even!
one of the more prominent sights in opava is st. adalbert's church, an absolute orgiastic piece of baroque splendor. it was built between 1675 and 1681 and replaced a small gothic church from the 14th century. the lovely lavender coloured facade with the highlighting yellow decorational elements really stood out.
on the plaza directly in front of the church i discovered that the city has another curious addendum, a trolley coach system! you rarely see trolley coaches in cities anymore, but they were very common once, in all kinds of european countries! opava's history with trolley buses reaches back over 100 years, which is amazing, considering that in many western countries they were either replaced by tramways, undergrounds or normal bus systems. in opava there were a mixture of modern and vintage trolley buses on the streets. this one was one of the more oldschool ones. i found that very charming!
the plaza in front of the church. the two buildings flanking the church on each side are the headquarters of the opova province archive one of the oldest in the whole of the czech republic. it houses documents and media from the two historic regions of moravia and silesia.
the strange sculpture in the front is called 'the spy' and was created by czech sculptor františek skála in 2006. apparently there is an opening inside the sculpture through which you can peer through and basically turn into a spy. i didn't know that when we visited, so i can't confirm the truth of it, as it is also said that they closed the opening because kids always wanted to crawl in there and it was too dangerous.
discovering autumn signs in the city streets.
this running girl could be found in front of the house of arts ( which is also situated next to another church - st. wenceslaus ). the house of arts is embedded into the old convent of st. wenceslaus, which was once a dominican monastery. the entrance building was constructed during the 70ies by an architect called leopold plavec. behind those doors you can basically find a museum and venue for all things art related.
the running girl also is part of the scenery since around the time the art house entrance was build ( in 1976 to be exact ), by sculptor ( and educationalist ) kurt gebauer. the set-up was allowed during the socialist era even though it always secretly carried a non-conforming air. the art house, while also being promoted as the pride of the socialist art scene, had the grit to showcase critical art throughout that particular time. reading up on all this, this would've been another must-go to venue for me, if we had more time and i had been a bit more knowledgeable back then.
the city hall with the white tower is the town's landmark. the original building dates back to 1327, when there were several chambers of commerce residing in and around it. the building of today though, it was built around the turn of the 20th century ( in 1902 ) and used the old renaissance building as the base. the bell tower in the middle was always used as an alarm signal in case any invasions, news or fires happened ( just like in krnov, where the same was done with one of the bell towers of st. martin's ). we had our coffee break at café kramer, which is situated on the ground level of the building! i mention it here, because it was truly delicious and the atmosphere was lovely, the interiors had a sort of art deco air.
unfortunately a real jewel in the city of opava is suffering the faith of real estate business racketeering: the breda department store. it is a building by the well-known architect leopold bauer, who also built some edifices in krnov and who was inspired by american architecture ( namely the buildings of architect louis sullivan ) of the era. the department store was erected in 1927/28 - in the style of art deco! which is really so rare to find in europe so that made me all excited! i later learned that the architect is known to have completed a lot of art nouveau/art deco projects in the region and the city of krnov even had a little exhibition on him on the main square next to the city hall, that peaked my interest even more!
the store ( that was owned by the company breda & weinstein ) was the biggest one in the whole of the czech republic when it was opened! it's been closed since 2012 and there are currently no real plans to reinvigorate it. which truly, truly is a shame. but unfortunately the modern requirements of a department store seem to be totally different today ( i say, unfortunately because the company built a modern department store in another place in the city in recent years, which basically diminishes the chance of resurrecting this old classic ).
i especially loved the cornice parts of the roof, opening up like fans.
not far from the department store this building poked you in the eye like a sore wound. but, as i would like to insert, not in a negative way, as it also provided an interesting contrast to the surrounding buildings. i even like to go as far and say that this building was probably my favourite in the city, at least from what we had seen up to this point ( even though the breda department store is a close successor ). the shiny red facade belongs to the hotel koruna.
the hotel koruna, which seems like it should belong to a futuristic city district rather than into the historic city center of opava, was built between the years 1984 and 1985 by jan kovář und jiří horák.
i think this hotel might be quite controversial when you compare it to the surrounding architecture, it doesn't fit at all within the scenery, except for the colour of the facing tiles, which were chosen to resemble the nearby brickstone buildings like the savings bank on the right or the cathedral which is just a corner away. by the way, the savings bank is worth mentioning as well, it is a gorgeous neo-renaissance structure from 1900/02.
as you can see, i couldn't get enough of that monstrosity ( and i say that very lovingly, because it really impressed me! )
the pairing of bordeaux red and gold is just too delicious.
here's a part of the savings bank facade. the embellishments created a different kind of attention, albeit more traditional and not so startingly spectacular ( but still beautiful! ).
erbaut 1902 - erected in 1902. since the building was created during a time were lots of germans lived in moravia-silesia, it is only logical that some remnants of that past are still visible today.
with this, another one of our czech adventures is concluded, packed with lots to process and to goggle over. running around all day macerated us quite a bit and we were ready to finally hit the road back to krnov again.
next post will be set in krnov again, as we made another city walk through town.
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