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Download the brochure
The Czech Republic, comprising the historic provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, has one of the richest concentrations of great houses in Europe, exceptional gardens, splendid churches and innumerable picturesque little Renaissance and Baroque towns, set in a landscape of great beauty. On this tour we shall visit many wonderful buildings from the mediaeval period to the early 20th-century. Many are of European importance and are UNESCO World Heritage listed, yet still remain relatively undiscovered by foreign visitors to the country.
In the Middle Ages, Bohemia was a powerful and wealthy kingdom, ruled in the 14th-century by the country’s greatest king, Charles IV. We shall visit his great castle at Karlštejn, with its unique painted 15th-century chapel, one of the most glorious painted interiors of mediaeval Europe.
The Renaissance was a period of rich cultural activity with many Italian craftsmen working in the country. Highlights include the manor house of Doudleby nad Orlicí with its important painted Renaissance interiors and the beautiful Renaissance châteaux of Litomyšl and Telc, both situated in delightfully unspoilt Renaissance towns, and both listed UNESCO World Heritage sites. Litomyšl was the birthplace of Smetana and our tour will include a concert arranged as part of the Smetana Music Festival.
From early in the 18th-century many members of the Austrian and German nobility chose to build their summer places and grand hunting seats in Bohemia and Moravia, which had become part of the mighty Austrian Habsburg Empire. At picturesque Ceský Krumlov, the wealthy Schwarzenbergs updated the medieval castle with spectacular 18th-century interiors and created a delightful rococo theatre, one of the few surviving in Europe, and still with its original stage sets and costumes. The Czech lands also became one of the great centres of the Baroque, and at Žd’ár nad Sázavou we visit the spatially exciting Baroque pilgrimage chapel of St John Nepomuk by the brilliant Czech architect, Santini-Aichel.
In the early 19th-century, the Baroque gives way to a chaster, purer classical style, beautifully presented at the private château of Kostelec nad Orlicí, In contrast, the towered and turreted Schwarzenberg country seat of Hluboká is the finest example of Romantic Gothic Revival. Finally the wonderful Art Nouveau interiors of the Municipal House, Prague, bring us into the 20th century.
Tour Leader
Barbara Peacock MA FRSA has travelled extensively through the Czech Republic since the early 1990s and has taken many Study Tours to Bohemia and Moravia. She is founder and director of Wessex Fine Art and Architecture Tours and lectures in Britain and abroad for organisations such as the National Trust, the Art Fund and the Arts Society, and is a Tour lecturer for Art Pursuits Abroad. She was formerly Assistant Keeper in the Department of Fine Art at Birmingham City Art Gallery and subsequently Adult Education Tutor in Fine Art at Southampton University. She is co-founder of The Friends of Czech Heritage and in 2015 was awarded the Czech Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in the Czech Republic.
The Full Programme
Download the brochure for full details of the daily schedule, visits, costs, how to book and terms and conditions.
Hotel
All Hotels are four star and are in historic buildings in UNESCO World Heritage locations.. The first two nights will be spent at the Hotel **** Monastery Garden in Prague Old Town; then three nights at Hotel Zlatá Hvezda ****, Litomyšl, and finally two nights at **** Hotel Latrán in Ceský Krumlov.
Booking and Fees
The 8-day tour will cost Ł3695 per person in a twin-bedded or double room, Ł300 single supplement.
Note: The cost does not include the air flight.
A Ł400 (non-refundable) deposit (per person) guarantees your place on the tour.
Terms and Conditions
Cancellation charges are as follows:
56 days or more before start of course - loss of deposit
55 - 43 days before start of course - 50% of the total
42 - 29 days before start of course - 60% of the total
28 - 22 days before start of course - 85% of the total
21 - 0 days before start of course - 100% of the total
It is a condition of booking that you arrange travel insurance to protect yourself against loss. In the unlikely event of cancellation by WFASC we undertake to refund you in full within 14 days all monies paid to us in course fees.
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