The Trip To Kutna Hora

Kutna Hora was the summer residence of Bohemian Kings and, due to its silver mines, the currency minting center of Europe in the Middle Ages.  It's about 70km east of Prague and one of the most visited places in Czech Republic.  The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site.  It is also the town where my family is from...

Third Cousins, Jarda Sticha & Ric Vrana

My third cousin, Jarda, and his son, Rostia, who speaks some English came to Prague and drove us there.

Fourth Cousins, Rostia Sticha & Maria Vrana

This is the House where my grandmother was born.  She was Marie Fiala, who married Jan Vrana and emigrated to New York City in 1914 with three children.  My daughter, Maria Fiala Vrana, is named for her.

We walked the city from one end to the other.  Lots of sights to see along the way.

Palackeho Namesti.  One of the main squares in town.

The "Stone Fountain" A little water reservoir built in the middle ages.







The town is the home of the Cathedral of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners.  It is considered one of the finest examples of the Gothic-Baroque and features a very unusual roof line.

Left is "Vlassky dvur" which translates as the "Italian Courtyard".  This is the old Royal Mint and summer residence of Bohemian kings.  We took a tour of the whole thing which explains the various building phases and the way the ore was mined and smelted and how they minted coins that were circulated throughout the empire (the good old HRE, that is).  "Kutna Hora" means something like mining mountain.

In the front of the entrance, however, is a statue to the Czechoslovak first president from 1918 to 1935, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.  He's revered all over the CzR but he has nothing to do with the mint, which closed when the ore ran out in the 1700s.

Tower of Sv Jakub. If not for Sv Barbora, this would be the largest church in town.

   Not atypical architecture

Lunch Breach.  Note the Cathedral in the background.

 

Walking toward the cathedral with the impressive Jesuit College on our right.  When the Counter-reformationist Jesuit order retook control of things after the Hussite rebellion they built what probably was intended to look like a fortress.

Nowadays, its mostly an art gallery.  I think the Jesuits are gone.

Looking down in the valley of a stream with a name English speakers can't believe is possible for the human mouth to pronounce is a small inter-city train.  These go back and forth a couple times an hour!

Cathedral of Saint Barbara.  

Notice the ceiling vaulting!  Ornate as it, the interior is less gilded than some of the big churches I've seen.  It is still used and reflects a more somber tone. The stone walls make the place seem even larger.










The stained glass is from various ages.  Clearly this panel dates from the Belle Epoche style of the turn of the 20th C.  Note the way the ladies are drawn almost in imitation of the work of Alfonse Mucha.

A side chapel is dedicated to St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.  Not coincidental, then, that a warrior is found on the altar!  After the Hussite rebellions were crushed and the Jesuits came in, they threw the Hussite priests down into the mine pits.

With the winged roof, those flying buttresses make it look like the thing could blast off!  And from the front...

Later that evening, the whole family went out to dinner.  What an enjoyable and fun-loving group.  I am glad to know them. Now, let me see if I got this right...

Left to right: Karla (Radek's wife), Micha (Rostia's wife), Teodor (Radek's youngest son), Rostia, Natalia (Karla's daugher by previous marriage), Maria, Ric, Radek (Jarda's oldest son), Jarda, Jindra, and Albert (Radek's older son) 

   Not Sure I know how to eat this!   

Next day we toured more sites in and around Kutna Hora.

A twelfth century Cistercian Monestery went backrupt by 1800 and was converted into a tobacco factory.  This was bought by Phillip Morris in 1992 and is where Rostia works and from where Jarda retired.  They are proud of the place, the largest toboacco factory in eastern Europe.  For its part Phillip Morris has invested millions in keeping the place gorgeous, and uses the baroque buildings as offices and European headquarters.

Interior Hall painted with frescoes depicting lives of saints (mostly martyrs). In each of those doors are modern day offices with people managing the the buying and selling and manufacturing of tobacco products.

Pretty intense martyrdoms.

In this view, the old monestary is to the left and the plant sprawls north, behind it.  

The Monestery Church wasn't sold and is still owned by The Church. 

 























Why yes, that is Maria down there!  And here is a walkway I found my way into high above the vaulted ceiling!

Next we walked to Kostnice, the "ossuary" or bone church.  This place is famous but the story is too complicated to go into here.  It involves a sprinkling of dirt from the "holy land", an over-capacity graveyard, and a half mad, half blind monk.






Along the way was this sign.  When I was here, decades ago, there was no English anywhere.  Now...








 
Bone Pyramid













Bone Chandelier

Chandelier close up.

 

 

Left: Bone Coat of Arms 

Right: Looking at 'dem bones

Below: Kostnice from outside. Repairing the roof

We don't know any relatives with our other family name, but outside the church there is a gravestone for the Fialova family.  Mia poses next to it.

After a great lunch of halibut with garlic soup, we toured Kacina, the palace of a weathly land owning noble in the 18th Century.

 Looking out from the library

 Relaxing in the Lord's After Dinner Lounge

Maria in the on-site Pharmacy

                       Rostia in the Rain.

Later we went out of town to their "cottage", a small second house that is passed on through the family.  Greta and I visited this place in '86 and it is much the same only with plumbing and electricity.  We had a fabulous home cooked meal featuring mushrooms, boletus, picked that day by Jindra.  She surprised us by producing a baby picture of Maria we'd sent them when she was born, before we lost contact for 20 years!

 
 

 Jarda's workshop.













Then we went for a walk in the rain to the lake by the cottage.  It's called Velky Rybnik, which translates as big fish pond, which is essentially what it is. The last picture is taken in a place where a similar picture of Jarda and me was taken in 1986.  Too bad I don't have a scan of that one to compare.