Kroměříž and Tovačov

As one of the most significant monument complexes in Moravia it is entered in the UNESCO List of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. For centuries it has served as a residence for the bishops and archbishops of Olomouc. Its world-famous Picture Gallery with a precious painting collection will strike you, for instance, with a real gem – a work by Titan: „Apollo and Marsyas“. The grandiose library, with some 40,000 volumes, will take you into the realm of the written word. You can also admire the music archive, the beautiful Assembly hall, the Tsar´s Hall, the Sala Terrena, the castle tower and the Episcopal mint. The vast Archbisopś Wine Cellars, arching beneath the castle, also lure visitors to come and have a taste. The cellars were accorded the privilege to produce sacramental wine by king Charles IV himself. The wines you can buy here are aged in wooden casks six and a half metres below the ground.

Like the chateau, both gardens are entered in the UNESCO list. The Chateau Garden has the nature of an English garden with a many ponds and fountains and is home to many precious plant and tree species. Walking around, you will discover the original sculptural decoration and a number of romantic buildings – colonnades, the Fishing Pavilion, gazebos. The Floral Garden is built in the Italian Manerist spirit, with precisely cut shrubbery, a mysterious maze and a floral parterre. A richly decorated rotunda with an ingenious Foucault pendulum, providing the rotation of the earth around its axis, is also part of this garden. A colonnade, set with the statues of ancient deities, is 244 meters long.

Opening hours:
Summer: 7am to 7pm
Winter: 7am to 4pm

The nearly one hundred-meter tall „Graceful“ tower of Tovačov Chateau offers a unique view of the town of Tovačov and its surounding lakes and lowland forests. Its entrance portal (1492) is considered to be the oldest Italian Renaissance work in the Czech Republic. Tovačov is atractive not only as a location where you can take pleasant walks, but also as a place of many cultural events.

Opening hours:
April, May, October. Wed, Sat, Sun 1pm to 4.30pm
June – August: Tue-Sun 9.30am – noon. 1pm to 4.30pm