Some of the town's buildings have yet to be
restored as, for instance, that shown in the
picture on the left.
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St Jost Church was established before 1334 by
Peter I. von Rosenberg, and was a part of the
Rosenbergs´ hospital. When the last
Rosenberg left Ceský Krumlov for Trebon in
1602 the church was passed over to the local
Jesuits who held German services there. The
Jesuits administered the church until 1773 when
their religious order was dissolved. The
administration was then passed over to the
prelate parish office.
In 1787 at the time of the Josef II's reforms the
church was closed down the church furnishings
were given to the other churches in the
Ceský Krumlov region. In 1790 the
municipal council of Ceský Krumlov
auctioned the building to a townsman, Kaspar
Koutný. The tower was passed over to town
ownership. Koutný immediately sold the
building to two companions, a businessman Klement
Pschl and a hatter Karel Neumller who rebuilt it
into a burgher house with a brewing
privileges.
In 1802 Karel Neumller became sole owner and
converted it into a casino with a bar and a
dancing hall on the first floor. A terrace on the
side leading to the Vltava river was also built
at that time. After 1900 the house was used only
as a residential accommodation.
Around 1920 the Bata shoe company had a shop
there and in 1938 a store for a bicycle and
motorcycle shop was also constructed as an
addition to the property. A restoration of the
facade was performed in 1998-99. The premises
today hold various businesses including a
restaurant and a marionette museum.
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The original Gothic structure of the town hall
(to the right of the picture) dates from the 14th
century and was joined with the adjacent
structures to make one large building during the
second half of the 16th century. It originally
belonged to the honorable abbot of the monastery
of Zlatá Koruna, Teodorik and remained in
the hands of the Zlatá Koruna clergy until
the year 1424.
In the second half of the 15th century, the
ownership of the building was taken over by
Ulrich von Rosenberg, who then sold or gave this
building to the Metlín family of yeomen
from Metlín. One of the members of this
family, Peter Pryms, bequeathed this building to
an unmarried woman Vorsila Mikulás after
the death of his own wife. This decision however,
evoked indignation in the neighbours and the town
officials. Vorsila apparently didn´t fight
too hard for her ownership rights and from 1582
the building belonged to a wealthy Austrian
businessman, Ondrej Certa-Teufla, who was a
member of the town council.
The town council bought the building in the year
1597 with the intention of making it their new
town hall. The mayor and even the town officials
originally worked from their homes. Only in 1752
did the official Stejskal set up an office in the
town hall, and in 1791 the mayor moved into the
building. Many valuable items were stored at the
town hall, for example golden keys to the city
gates, which were given over to the nobility when
they visited the town, plus the town seal and
silver dishes used during feasts honoring the
renewal of the town council and for other festive
occasions. The building now houses the offices of
the Ceský Krumlov Municipal Authority, the
Municipal police, and, believe it or not, the
Museum of Torture !
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Coats of arms on the facade of the town hall
building including those of Bohemia and the town
of Ceský Krumlov and the Eggenberg family
(right).
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"A buttressed oriel on this two-storey, corner
building protrudes into the town square. It is
supported by two Tuscan coulmns, between which is
a wide archway. The front facade of the building
is sub-divided by contoured cornices. Around the
windows are stone shams with contoured cornices
aboves these. On the sides of the windows there
is terracotta ornamental work of a Classical
plait design.
"The building contains its original Gothic core.
Radical reconstruction occurred in the
Renaissance period. From the years 1510-1520 an
extraordinary early Renaissance wall mural of the
Roman satirist Persia was painted on the first
floor of the building. Further redevelopments
occurred before the the middle of the 19th
century. Restoration work was last carried out in
1979-80."
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"The Old Inn - the original Gothic structure was
one of the most admired buildings in the Cesky
Krumlov square. The building took on a
Renaissance appearance when it underwent
renovation in the first half of the 16th
century.
"In the year 1825, the vaulted arcade was encased
in walls and various other parts were repaired.
After 1849, the building was reconstructed. The
building, with all its historical and
architectural significance, was destroyed after
the year 1914, and rebuilt in 1918 to its present
day appearance. In the 1950s the building
underwent its most recent, noteworthy alterations
when the building was connected to its neighbour
and was structurally adapted to be used as part
of the hotel."
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"A stone six-angled fountain surrounds the
Plague Column erected during 1714-1716 in memory
of victims of the plague epidemic that struck the
town during 1680-1682. Sculptural decoration
shows mainly sculptures of 'anti-plague patrons
and town protectors'.
"Sculptures of St. Václav, St Vitus, St
John the Evangelist, St Juda Thaddeus are to be
seen in the upper row, and St Francis Xavier,
St Sebastian, St Kajetan and St Rocchus in the
lower row. They are the works of Prague sculptor
Matej Václav Jäckel as well as the
sculpture of the Virgin Mary situated on top of
the column."
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The following account demonstrates the detailed
records available for many of the buildings in
the town:
"In 1499 the house (on the right hand sid of
the picture) was donated by the Rosenberg
chancellor, Václav z Rovného, to
the chaplains of St Vitus Church. It was the
house where the 'King' gingerbread-maker used to
live.
"Twenty years later Václav z
Rovného donated to the chaplains a new and
much bigger building to which they moved. They
kept the house until 1573 when they sold it to a
shopkeeper, Kaspar Diernhofer. Kaspar died in
1589 and his wife Johana in 1591 willed the house
to her brother Krystof Lepsí. After his
death widow Vorsila sold it to Ondrej Ostermann,
a personal barber-surgeon and bathkeeper to
Wilhelm von Rosenberg. His family lived there to
1603.
"In the years 1640 - 1664 the house belonged to a
shoemaker, Jirí Schöbel, who was
followed by a teacher, Bartolomej Václav
Roth. From 1676 a town footman, Matyás
Krampl, stayed there and after him, in 1714,
Bernard and Magdalena Paceda moved in the house.
In 1723 the house was owned by a draper Ondr(ej
Tragauer and his family kept it to 1806. The
house was reconstructed in 1960."
The street leads up to St Vitus Church, which may
be viewed on the next page............
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