Český Krumlov Through the Eyes of Karel Čapek

It is astonishing how much the city still resembles the vivid description given by Karel Čapek in his collection of essays „Pictures from Home“. Take a walk with him. Where would he stop and look around? Where would he go for a coffee? See Krumlov through his eyes. You will follow a 4.5 km long city circuit, which is easily accessible for both adults and children.

Karel Čapek: Along the Vltava – Český Krumlov

"I don’t know how many times the Vltava twists and turns before it passes through the city. If you try to follow it straight, you’ll cross it about five times, and each time you’ll be amazed that it is so golden-brown and so hurried. I don’t know how many people live in Krumlov, but I do know it has thirty-four taverns, three churches, one castle – but a big one – two gates, and an enormous amount of historical landmarks. In fact, the whole town is one large historical monument, reminiscent of Siena, Stirling, or other famous places.

Here you’ll find old gables, bay windows, dormers, arcades, arches, galleries, battlements, sgraffito, frescoes, staircases up and down, balustrades, fountains, columns, milestones, nooks, beams, vaulted halls, passages, historic cobblestones, winding streets, nativity scenes, tall roofs, a Gothic church, Minorite friars – and everywhere the red Rosenberg roses. Wherever you turn, you see charm, antiquity, and historical grandeur.

But in the old suburbs, there are only small houses, you can reach the roof with your hand, geraniums bloom in the windows, and signs hang over the doors. Here, old crafts still survive as if it were the fifteenth century.

Above everything, the castle dominates the city with its imposing tower, one of the most tower-like towers I have ever seen. I would say that towers are a Czech specialty, as nowhere else do they have such strange domes, bulging onion tops, gilded finials, lanterns, attached turrets, galleries, and spires. Every old Czech town has its distinctive tower, so you can tell this is Hradec, this is Brno, this is Budějovice – and this is Český Krumlov.

The castle is covered inside and out with frescoes, but the best part is the Baroque princely theater, where old stage decorations still hang. One might expect an 18th-century Italian opera to haunt the space, but it does not – because performances are prohibited for safety reasons.

Then, there is the Bellarie summer palace, with its whimsical staircases on the facade, along with many other Baroque wonders. For three crowns, there’s more than enough to see."

(This text appeared in the collection "Pictures from Home" in 1953, fifteen years after the author's death.)