Český Krumlov: up the castle way to paradise

First came four blissful days in and around the lovely Czech town of Litomyšl, which we'd seen only briefly back in 2016 on the way to Polička to see Martinů's church-tower childhood home but where we now got four Smetana operas in four nights (full report on The Arts Desk here). Then  J and I headed south by train from Prague to much-feted Český Krumlov on a meander of the Vltava. I had no idea it's become so popular with tourists, not least Chinese and Japanese tour groups - Brits mostly haven't heard of it - but the prime spot is deserved.

Walking down from the station - the last stage of the journey from České Budějovice is idyllic as you enter the hilly, eventually mountainous Šumava region, the South Bohemian woods which extend in to Germany - the tourists were apparent but also the time-capsule, perfectly restored, as we crossed two bridges to our destination. Which delivered view-wise what it promised as the Castle Bridge Hotel.

I had no idea until I saw it that this is a reference to the high walkway above the aqueduct along the higher stretch of the castle route. A wonder of Czechia in itself, but then the castle itself offers the best of its kind anywhere I've been (Krac des Chevaliers included):  a (free) upward journey to ever more blissful zones (tours of castle apartments - avoided - and 18th century theare - gladly accepted, even though only a German-language version was available - have to be booked).

And so, on the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures going above 30 degrees, I went on ahead to book tickets for the theatre tour and started the ascent. Didn't have the heart to snap the poor bears in the pit of the first courtyard (why were they put there in the 18th century? One account is that it was toadying to the Orsini of Italy). But the glories of the first best phase are apparent in the Renaissance buildings commissioned by Wilhelm of Rosenberg during the second half of the 16th century and executed by Balthasar Maggi d'Arogno. The Redoubt with its tower dominating the town's skyline as well as the first two courtyards was decorated c. 1580 with paintings by Bartolomej Jelinek.

Entrance to the upper castle is through a steep corridor. The coats of arms are those of Wilhelm (1535-1592) on the left, Anton von Eggenberg (1610-1649) and his wife Marie Ernestine von Brandenberg (1609-1680) on the right.

The corridor opens out on to two further, smaller courtyards, again restored with the Renaissance work that had been plastered over.

After the second of these, it's out on to the magnificent covered bridge finished in the second half of the 18th century, linking the old building to Baroque glories. The statues are replicas, the originals on display in the Castle Lapidary. This is St Felix of Cantalice. Our hotel is down below on the left.

Good views over the town (top image) and back to the old castle and its tower.

Glad of refreshment on a terrace with a large group of vocal Czech teenagers, then onwards and upwards on a beautiful shaded path. Hollyhocks in an idyllic cottage on the right.

The castle gardens changed their appearance over the centuries - in the 19th, they were remodelled according to the English-park style. They've been irreproachably well restored to the Rococo look. The cascade fountain of 1750-65 to a design by Andrea Altomonte has replacement statues; again, the originals are in the Castle Lapidary. The goddess Amphitrite is on the highest level with (rather than on) a dolphin

 and alongside her Neptune.

Around the copper beeches in the centre was a huge range of birdsong - thanks to Merlin for identifying them all. Cool was of the essence, so instead of going down to the foot of the castle to meet J, I asked him to meet me outside the theatre for the 1pm tour. Our guide was a German-speaking Czech who had lived here all her life. I wanted to ask what saved her family from expulsion after World War 2 - only those Sudeten Germans who hadn't supported Hitler or who were essential for rebuilding were allowed to stay on. Anyway she saw the Baroque Theatre in various stages of dilipidation on visits with her mother when rain stopped play in the gardens. The building dates from 1680 and its present appearance dates from 1765-6. It's now restored to maximum splendour, original sets and stage machinery included.

Altogether on a granders scale than the pretty little theatre we'd seen in the Litomyšl Castle, pictured below; here the stage is larger than the auditorium. I'd love to experience performances in both; sadly the latter isn't secure enough right now. It would be ideal for string quartets.

Our guide gave demonstrations of noisemakers, including the truck wheeled above for thunder, a veritable hailstorm and the wind machine (pictured here),

 and we also got to look below, though, alas, no further demonstrations here.

Out into the daylight and the heat, we felt reinvigorated, even though lunch called, and I was keen to see what my guidebook rather cumbersomely calls 'Monastery of the Order of the Knights of the Cross with a Red Star (originally a monastery of Minorites and Clares) with the Church of Corpus Christi and St Mary in Pain'. 

The grounds are a very quiet haven - not many tourists seem to have this high on the list. I must say that for all the naff concessions to the mass influx like the Wax Museum and Museum of Torture, money is well spent on excellent restoration in this UNESCO treasure among towns. 

The church, consecrated in 1358, had a Baroque makeover in 1649-81 hardly in tune with the simplicity of the 'poor Clares'

Eggenburg extravagance was responsible for the high altar and that of the Virgin Mary.

The cloister of 1500 was what attracted me to coming here. Among the statues returned for the first time in 70 years and placed between the pillars, the Krumlov Madonna is only a copy - the story of its purchasing by an Austrian dealer and how it ended up in Vienna's Kunsthistoriches Museum is worthy of an article in itself.

After a much-needed afternoon nap, I strolled the most frequented streets of the old town around the main square (by this time St Vitus was closed, but walking around it was still a pleasure).

We had supper by the Vltava at Barvirna, located in the old dyers' factory, big brother of what became our regular, Jelenka, and more expensive (though not a lot) because of the river view.

Here the swifts swooped and shrieked, grey wagtails bobbed about, while by day - J found himself a lunchtime seat - the pleasure was in watching canoeists overturned and helped out. These two were experienced, though.

Walked back via a big loop in the balmy night air, taking in the Chaplain's House of 1520.

Further along is the splendidly sgraffiti-ed former Jesuit College, designed by d'Arogno in 1586-8, the Hotel Růže (the 'rose' of the Rosenbergs) since 1889.

Opposite it there's a small park with more glorious views over to the castle and the streets below (see Schiele spiel below). 

The next morning we walked around the lovely, shady Municipal park on a bend over the other side of the river. Lost each other once past it heading for the Synagogue and Egon Schiele's house, and I took a very big detour by accident. Glad I did, because Plešivecká, running above the Vltava once the river has straightened itself out, is one of the prettiest streets, though well out of the centre.

Then there's a rose garden running down towards the Synagogue.
 

My time, though, was short, and since J had told me the Schiele studio was closed, I simply crossed the Vltava to get a glimpse of it.

Schiele lived in what was then Krumau from 1911 to 1914, and his works depicting the town help to give it a bit of a 20th century kick.

Should we return, there's still the Egon Schiele Centre to visit, with some of his original drawings and paintings on show. But Prague called, and a blissful direct train journey back in the afternoon gave us time to rest in the excellent Hotel Klárov before taking a tram to the Villa Müller, a late design by Adolf Loos now owned by the Czech state. A colleague of our friend Tereza Porybná had set up a concert there for movers and shakers in the arts, with no less a guest than the Pavel Haas Quartet (in other words one of the very greatest in the world).

The 1930 house is fascinating from the outside, and its balcony has a wonderful view, but inside is in many places a bit creepy - a far cry from Mies van der Rohe's light and airy Villa Tugendhat in Brno - near-contemporary, but Mies was younger - which we visited with our Viennese friends Tommi and Martha in 2010 long before it became more regularly open to the public. The men's smoking room - engineer František Müller was not as advanced as all that - is old-fashioned and lugubrious; the children's rooms on the top floor smack of the sanitorium. Photos were discouraged inside, and of corse no-one was going to take any during the performance, but J was permitted a curtain-call shot, not perfect, but it gives you an idea of the setting (very stuffy with the windows shut on a peculiar evening when storms raged around Prague, but avoided it).

The concert was a stunner, as is everything the PHQ does. I was expecting it to be a try-out of the forthcoming Litomyšl recital, but by no means entirely. It began with Suk's atmospheric Meditation on the Wenceslas Chorale, but then we got Tchaikovsky's Third Quartet. Had the Haases wanted to give themselves, and us, an easier time, they could have chosen the famous First. The Third veers from melancholy and fury to playfulness; I haven't heard it live for a very long time. J was gobsmacked, above all by the ferocity (always in tune!) of Veronika Jarůšková, a true force of nature. Unforgettable, especially at only a few metres' distance from this inferno.

I stayed on in Prague for most of the next day, Zooming my Berlioz class from the Rudolfinum. When I arrived a public rehearsal was in full swing - wish they'd told me; it was Dalia Stasevska conducting the Czech Phil in Sibelius 5. 

While problems with the conference room I was supposed to use got sorted, I managed to slip in for the very end. 

What a shame I couldn't stay for the evening, but I'd had a rather good musical feast over the course of the week.