What can you visit in Roudnice nad Labem

The Romanesque castle. At the end of the 12^th century, the first known owners of Roudnice nad Labem , theBishops of Prague, built a srtong Romanesque castle on a rocky spur over the river.It was the first structure of its kind in Bohemia, and was built to French models.

The restangular palace itself was some 40m long and 15m wide, with marlstone block walls 2m thick at the foundations, reinforced on the northern side and at the corners by towers.The complex also included other buildings south of the main structure , and was encircled by walls with fortifified gate.The castle was later modernised several times: the place was extended eastwards in the Gothic period to terminate in a gate tower, in the mid-16^th century a Renaissance wing was appended to the south-east, and at the beginning of the 17^th century further buildings were added to the west. After radical Baroque reconstruction, the north-western corner of the castle remains preserved beneath the terrace of the new chateau

 

The Augustinian monastery.Bishop Jan z Dražice spent a lenghtly period at the Papal Court in Avignon.After his return , one of the places that he applied the experience that he had gained in this center of European politics and culture was Roudnice n.L. where he founded a religious house for  the new order of Augustinian Canons.

The foundation stone was laid 1333, and the construction took over20 years. The complex-to which French masters, too, contributed-comprises the Church of the nativity of the Virgin and the actual convent to the south.The convent originally had a square ambit and cloister garth, with a chapter house on the east side.The northern wing of the ambit was demolished during the Baroque reconstruction of the church.The monastery became an important  center of learning and clerical resurgence.The Pope later revoke the founder’s original stipulation that the monastery accept only Czechs.In 1421 the monastery was sackedby Hussite forces, and the monks left. Despite subsequent attemps to restore  monastic life, by the end of the 15^th century the Augustinians had left Roudnice.The whole complex slid over time into decay despite occasional repairs, and was later (in the 16^th and 18^th centuries)  addapted for parish needs.

 

The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin , originally a minster, is a typical structure of the noble Bohemian Gothic of the first half of the 14^th century. In a plan it is a tree aisled basilica with  a brigtlz-lit presbytery.The sacristy is an adaptation of the original Romanesque chapel built on the site by Bishop Tobiáš of Bechyně.The stucture suffered damage during the Hussite wars and in the numerous fires  thet swept trough the town, fell into disrwpir and was only provisional reconstructio in 1725-1734.The Litoměřice  architect Octavio Broggio imprinted the church with a new appearance in the new Baroque Gothic style , in which  he censitively joined the original Gothic forms to new Baroque approaches.The vault above the nave was lower, and the facade was fundamentally altered by the additon of a pair of towers.Of the interior decoration, particular attention should be paid to tho copy of the votive painting of Jan Očko z Vlašimi, a copy of the painting of the “Roudnice Madona” and the 14^th century altar with its two wings.

 

The old Jewish cemetey. Jewish cemetery in Roudnice dates back into the Middle Ages.The first site occupied by local Jews was south of the chateau in an area known as the Horse Market.The first Jewish cemetery, too,was located here.The building of the Capucin monastery at the beginning of the 17^th century led to the force removal of the Jewish residents, who were re-settled in beyond the “Hassa Gate” on the site of what are now Třebízského street and Havlíčkova street. In addition to house, a synagogue, school and spital were built here, and a new cemetery was established with valuable Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Classical headstones.At the same time, several gravestones from the abrogated cemetery near chateau were also brought here.

 

The Wathtower. The Wathtower is only survivor of the defences of the oldest part of Roudnice.Walls and gates were built for the  defence of the town  by Bishp Arnošt of Pardubice in 1345, along with this new tower on a raised site over ne of  the gates.The tower rode out the military conflict of the Middle Ages but was seriou damaged by a major fire that swept trought town in 1665, consequently, in the 18^th century it required reconstructoin.At this time it was also adapted to  to fulfli a new role- a water tank was installed here feo the fountain in the Horse Market (now Husovo sq.). The Watchtower had a chequered time during the 20^th century: during  Wold War II.it was an air observation and meeting for Hitler Youth.

     

The Baroque chateau. The chateau in Roudnice nad Labem is the work of Václav Eusebius of Lobkowicz, this important figure in the politics of the 17^th century had the unsatisfactory complex of earlier buildings demolished, and contracted leading Italian architects to build the new, early Baroque stately home in its place.Among those to work on the project between 1652 and 1684 were Pietro Colombo, Francesco Caratti, Carlo Orsolini and, in particular, Antonio Porta, who gave the building its definitive appearance.The chateau building has three four-storey wings around an almost square countryard, the  southern side is a tower over  the entrance gate.At the corners of the chateau are foursided bastions with terraces.The chateau served in its original function until the Second World War .The collections were subsequently removed, and the site served the militaty first of German, and after liberation of Czechoslovakia. Today it houses the Czech Military Music Academy.

 

The campanile(Bell tower). In 1715, fund provided by both the Lobkowicz family and the town of Roudnice supported the building of a new campanile for the church.Construction was carried out in such a way as to ensure the stability of the building.The bells are suspended from a timber framework that stand on a separate masonry pillar within the  shell of the tower.The chimes thus have no contact with the outer walls, which are thus unaffected by their striking. The bells from 1541, 1586 and 1619 come from the original campanile, which burned down in 1676.

 

St William’s Chapel. Filip Hyacinth of  Lobkowicz and his second wife Anna Vilemína of Althan Commissioned the Litoměřice builder Octavio Broggio to erect a chapel to St William on the site of  former place of execution in 1726-28.The chapel is rectangular in a plan, with a dynamic, bowed facade with pilasters at the  sides carrying a richly profiled cornice. The initials F v A – Fürstin von Althan. The gable was originally decorated with frescoes, and the facade finished with statues of St Jeroma and Mary Magdalene.The interior of the chapel, with its carefully oriented presbytery and wooden altar, is decorated with valut frescoes by Václav Vavřinec Rainer showing  the Holy Trinity with angels in heaven and allegories of the four Virtues – Fait Hope, Love and Justice.

 

St Lawrence, St john Nepomuk, Master John Hus, St Adalbert. The column bearing a figure of St Lawrence was erested on the square in Roudnice in in 1738, in thanksgiving  for deliverance from a plague epidemic.A statue of John Nepomuk adorns the area in fromt of the Baroque granary, dating to 1721, it too redalls an outbreak of the plague. The memeorial to Master John Hus on what is now Husovo sq. Was placed in 1928 at the insignation of the Roudnice “Association for the Erection of a Historic Memorial”, and is the work of Rudolf Březa.The statue of St Adalbert that stands in the lower part of Karlovo sq. Is the work of Stanislav Hanzlík, and was unveiled in 1997.

 

The chateau riding school – The Galery of modern art. Building was designed by Antonio Porta, one of the builders of the chateau, and came into being during the second half of the 17^th century. Its disposition conforms to all of the requirements laid upon buildings of  this type: it has an extended plan with spacious, barrel-vaulted interiors. Later addition were removed in the year 1960 – 65, when it was adapted to serve as a gallery. Reconstruction included the insertion of a new entrance trought  a stone portal  taken from Portas’s house, which stood on the square. The builder’s arms, an awoke sun, dominated the portal.The Gallery of Modern  Art  that now occupies the building boast many valuable works by Czech artists of the 20^th century, the set of paintings by Antonín Slavíček in particular is unique. The basis of the collection was formed by works assembled by local patron of the arts August Švagrovský.

 

The bridge. The first  bridge across the Elbe at Roudnice was built in 1333 – 40 at the commmand of Bishop Jan IV. of Dražice. One of the firts stone bridges in the Czech Lands, it was heavily damaged  during the Thirty Years’ War  and  was never repaired.The new bridge was built in 1906 – 10 at the same time as the river was regulated . The  iron sructure is carried on eight  concrete pillars, between which a weir was constructed in the river. As part of  the project the approaches  too were upgraded, and on the left bank  the creation of an access  ramp beneath the chateau  had  a major impact  on the appearance of the town.Beneath the ramp a small house was built for  the collection of tolls, and memorial plaques were also erected here. Opposite the house statues of Bohemian  and Czech lion were erected, symbolising the position of the town on what was then the border between Czech a German areas.

 

The lookout. The 1935 Roudnice lookout stands in a park above the town, and is an example of the functionalist  Modern architecture of  the inter-war years.Investment into the structure  was made by the Podřipsko Agricultural Trustee Savings Bank, and it was designed by Prague architect Oskar Štěpánek. A memorial plaque on the lookout recalls the name of landlower Václav Kratochvíl, a prominent  figure in local life in the 19^th century. The elegant lookout rises from a round plan up a bricklined ramp. The viewing platform itself is carried on six slender pillars, between which a spiral staircase wends its way.Panoramatic maps of the town and its surrounding by Antonín Kalous were originally placed on the railings around the platform.