Tourism/Tourism/Walk about Pardubice

PATH OF VILÉM OF PERNŠTEJN

Going for a pleasant walk and learning new things at the same time is also possible in Pardubice through the Path of Vilém of Pernštejn. The total length of this circuit with fifteen stops and information boards is 2.5 km and you may need one hour to see it, which means that even senior visitors to the town or parents with small children will not have any problems walking the distance. And if the legs start to hurt, there are pleasant places to sit down and have some refreshment on the way, e.g. in Tyrš Park, Pernštýnské Square or the Square of the Republic. These are just a few places where you can learn various interesting things and get to know the centre of Pardubice. Other information boards may be found e.g. in the Rennaisance Chateau, at the Green Gate dominating the town, in the Automatic Mills or at the anchoring place of the pleasure boat Arnošt. The path is barrier-free so that it is also open for handicapped persons or families with prams, and individual boards are completed with basic information in Braille. Detailed information about this tourist product is available on www.stezka.ipardubice.cz

Route:

  1. Green Gate (Zelená brána)
    The striking dominant of Pardubice. The impressive early Renaissance spire was built during town reconstruction after the fire in 1538. The copper metal sheet covering the roof grew green due to oxidation and the name “Green Gate” soon started to be used commonly.
  2. Pernštýnské Square (Pernštýnské náměstí)
    The houses in the square and in adjacent streets show the oldest traces of the late Gothic style. They are ended with the typical round arched gables and fitted with terracotta lining. The Neo-Renaissance town hall and the plague column dominate the square.
  3. Area near the Chateau (Přihrádek)
    Přihrádek forms a connecting line between the castle and the town. It provided the function of a fortified area in front of the gates and also served for the economic background of the domain administration. A commemorative plaque installed here reminds us of the birthplace of the poet Jiljí Vratislav Jahn.
  4. Chateau (Zámek)
    The original fortified castle was converted by the Lords of Pernštejn into a chateau; as a result something between a castle and a chateau was actually created. Precious remnants of Renaissance wall paintings, lacunar ceilings and a precious entrance portal have been preserved inside.
  5. East Bohemian Museum (Východočeské muzeum)
    The East Bohemian Museum has its seat in the castle, and provides access to six permanent exhibitions. You can see knight halls in a separate circuit for visitors. A library open to the public is also available.
  6. Tyrš Park (Tyršovy sady)
    In 1931, large exhibition grounds were built on a marshy area of the former castle ditch for the “Exhibition of physical education and sports of the Czechoslovak Republic”. The park area is awaiting a general reconstruction.
  7. Church of St. Bartolomew (Kostel sv.Bartoloměje)
    Vilém of Pernštejn had the church built at the beginning of the 16th century and founded a minorites’ monastery next to it. The interior houses a Renaissance tomb of Vojtěch of Pernštejn, altar painting “St. Bartholomew Martyr’s Death” (1692) and the Calvary sculpture group.
  8. Automatic Mills (Automatické mlýny)
    The buildings of the automatic large-scale mill owned the Winternitz brothers were designed by the architect J. Gočár. His monumental construction reminding us of a romantic castle is evidence of modern architecture applied to the construction of a production building.
  9. Comenius Square (Komenského náměstí)
    The Annunciation church, which belongs to the oldest structures in Pardubice, dominates the square. It was founded by the archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice in the 14th century. Vilém of Pernštejn had it rebuilt in the late Gothic style.
  10. Jonas House (Dům U Jonáše)
    The Jonas House boasts a striking relief decoration on its front wall. The decoration dates from the period soon after 1797, the large relief depicts the biblical legend about Jonas and the whale. Figures of St. Florian and St. Peter are seen on the house gable.

Vilém of Pernštejn

Vilém of Pernštejn called the Wise was born in Moravia at the Pernštejn castle as a grandson of Vilém Sr. of Pernštejn in 1435 and died in Pardubice on 8th April 1521. In 1491, he bought the Pardubice domain, converted it into a well-functioning large-scale farm and chose it for his settlement town, where he carried out a demanding reconstruction of the castle then. After a fire in 1507, he had the whole town newly reconstructed. Thus he played an important role in the greatest flourishing development of Pardubice in the Middle Ages. The fresh news from Jiří Šitler, a Czech diplomat, mentions the fact that Vilém of Pernštejn is an ancestor of the British Royal family – Vilém’s granddaughter Alžběta married a member of the German Fürstenberg family belonging to the ancestors of the British Windsors (and also to the ancestors of Karel Schwarzenberg, the Czech foreign affairs minister).

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