Kutna Hora and Bone Chapel Private Day Trip from Prague

Kutná Hora, the city of silver, is deservedly attributed the other name “national treasury”. This is to say that its wealth helped to ensure the boom of the Czech Kingdom. The centre of the city was included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1995 thanks to its historical importance and architectural gems. All of the streets, houses and churches exude a long history full of important events. The symbol of Kutná Hora is the unique late Gothic Cathedral of St. Barbara we will visit first. The monumental church is consecrated to St. Barbara, patron saint of miners. Its unique design with a three-tent roof and intricate flying buttresses make it an unmistakable Kutná Hora landmark and the town's most significant monument.

The Gothic stone fountain on Rejsek Square was built in 1493 by architect Matěj Rejsek (who also worked on the Church of St. Barbara and is the author of Prague's Powder Tower). The twelve-sided fountain is unusually large, four meters tall, and originally had a hexagonal roof. It supplied water to Kutná Hora when local water supply was cut off due to silver mining in the area. Water was brought in through wooden pipes from a well four kilometers away. The fountain is lit up beautifully after dark.

The starkly beautiful Gothic Church of St. James with its slender, 86 m tall tower, is a defining landmark on the Kutná Hora skyline. It is the oldest church in town. Its construction began in 1330 and ended in 1420. The church was originally projected with two towers but it soon turned out that the ground beneath was too unstable due to silver mining to hold both. The unfinished part of the second tower is clearly visible on the church exterior. For the unusual height of its tower, the church was also referred to as the Tall or High Church until the 17th century. The interior combines Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque artifacts.

The Jesuits arrived in Kutná Hora in 1626 to convert the Utraquist town to Catholicism. They focused their attention on children and built a college next to St. Barbara's Cathedral, connecting the two with a covered bridge. The Jesuit College was built between 1667 and mid-18th century. The building originally had three towers but the middle one had to be removed in mid-19th century for stability reasons. A man-made terrace was created in front of the building and enclosed by a low wall upon which 13 statues of saints were placed. That created a sort of pseudo-bridge, which was supposed to resemble Prague's Charles Bridge and Royal Route.The building is now home to a large art gallery.

The Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Husova Street was built in the mid-18th century, partly by Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer, a famous architect of the time. It is the only Baroque church in Kutná Hora. Besides its lithurgic purpose, it is also used for concerts and exhibitions. It is worth visiting for its beautiful, richly decorated interior.

The Italian Court is where silver coins were produced in the Middle Ages, during the time of Kutná Hora's wealth and glory. It is named after Florentine bankers who were summoned by King Wenceslas II to implement his monetary reform in the year 1300. As part of the reform, mints that had been scattered around the kingdom were closed and a central mint was established in Kutná Hora's Italian Court. Silver Prague groschen coins replaced the thin, inferior silver coins that had been used until then, and became one of Europe's strongest currencies of the time. The Italian Court is where silver coins were produced in the Middle Ages, during the time of Kutná Hora's wealth and glory. It is named after Florentine bankers who were summoned by King Wenceslas II to implement his monetary reform in the year 1300. As part of the reform, mints that had been scattered around the kingdom were closed and a central mint was established in Kutná Hora's Italian Court.

Stone House located in Kutna Hora in Czech Republic is one of the most important Gothic monuments in Bohemia playing a significant role in the whole Czech architecture. The building is great not only due to its age but also due to the fact that it bears signs of a lifestyle of that day’s people.

The beautiful Cathedral of Our Lady in Sedlec is a UNESCO World Heritage site.It is a part of the former Cistercian monastery that was established by king Wenceslas II in the early 1300s. This was during the time of Kutná Hora's great wealth derived from silver mining. The cathedral was built in the High Gothic style and was the most magnificent church in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The monastery along with the church were burned down by the Hussites in 1421 and were not renovated until the early 18th century. The Czech Baroque architect Jan Blažej Santini rebuilt the monastery at the turn of the 17th and 18th century in the unique Baroque Gothic style whose equivalent cannot be found anywhere else in Europe. The seamless combination of Gothic and Baroque is most prominent in the cathedral. The Cistercian monastery was closed down in 1783 as part of the religious reform of emperor Joseph II. A tobacco factory was established there in 1812 and is still run today by Philip Morris.

This Gothic church, located in the middle of a cemetery, dates from the end of the 13th century; in 1698, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style.

The Ossuary is in the undergroud chapel of the Church of All Saints. It contains the bones of about 40,000 people who died of the plague in 1318 and during the Hussite wars in the 15th century. They were originaly buried at the church cemetery. When the cemetery was closed at the end of the 15th century, the exhumed bones were transferred to the chapel and compiled into pyramids. In 1870, František Rint of Česká Skalice arranged the bones and skulls into creative decorations that include bells, the Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and a chandelier.