history in the facades

Just adding to Phil's blog below - a local friend of mine who is a professional restorer has made a thorough search of all the facades in the historic area of Cesky Krumlov, and hearing him talk about it is absolutely fascinating. I particularly loved him explain about the decisions that have to be made each time a house is to be 'redecorated' - you see, there are layers and layers of 'faces' that each house accumulated over the centuries, following the fashions of the day. So Jiri Bloch (the friend in question) might carefully unpeel from several small sample squares all the layers - each time working out what the whole facade would have looked like. Right under them all he might find an absolutely magnificent mediaeval fresco. Well, sometimes the decision goes to knock all the upper layers off and reveal the fresco, sometimes it is felt that it's best to keep the fresco hidden (i.e. protected) and only restore, say, the classicist face of the house. The next most important thing seems to be to preserve the authenticity of the chosen layer and not to add anything - that's why so often you can see on the facades here just half-pictures, or patches of underlayer revealed from some newer layers. Of course Jiri doesn't make these decisions himself - his research is done for the Preservation body of the council and also for UNESCO I believe. But what's great is that over the last 15 years or so he collected together all the documentation, some of which is now on display in his own small but immensely rich-in-information Museum of building crafts. Well worth a visit - this is not advertising by the way, but a heartfelt recommendation.

Undiscovered jewel?

‘The Crown jewel of Bohemia’ – that’s how people in the know describe Cesky Krumlov, a tiny mediaeval town close to the Austrian border. We love being here, and this non-commercial blog is just to record our thoughts and feelings about the town, and the area, and to give you an idea about life here should you ever come to visit.

THE PLACE

The town sits in the foothills of Sumava, a region of National Parks and protected Areas of Natural Beauty. It nestles in the crook of the river Vltava, and its narrow, cobbled, higgledy-piggledy streets are overlooked by a huge castle that towers on the rocks above. My English friends fondly describe the castle’s older parts as ‘Gormenghast’, while the Czechs are more prone to sing praises to its richly painted Renaissance buildings and the mystical tower bearing Alchemical symbols that tie it to the times when South Bohemia was a place of John Dee’s retreat.

In fact, the adjectives ‘magical’, or ‘fairytale’ are the ones most frequently heard from the lips of visitors who gaze at Krumlov for the first time, while its Czech residents nod their heads sagely, and say quite seriously that indeed there is deep magic under these rocks – healing springs issuing from silver and graphite veins below, and ley-line crossroads that later materialised in the many Celtic roads and settlements, marked to this day by standing rocks and little chapels dotted around the town, or hidden in the forests nearby.

But the romantic description doesn’t end here: every house has a story to tell, their painted facades often hide clues to their former occupants, and walking around the town is like a journey through a historic puzzle that is still waiting to be deciphered.

And for those who like to immerse themselves in this old-world atmosphere, the town offers wonderful restaurants serving mediaeval style meals, crafts markets, gypsy bands, even festivals where the residents dress up to parade around the town, and perform Summer solstice or Christmas traditional plays, or passion plays for Easter.