Litomysl: Roots of a Czech National Art

World Heritage Site and "Historical Town of the Year 2000"
"No other city in Czech Republic has so much history." That’s the opinion of City Hall, and I agree. There was a 14th-century bishopric that was created at the same time as Prague’s brought Augustinians--and a Hussite army. Other centuries saw uprisings against Ferdinand I, rule and removal of the Kostek family, Vratislav of Pernstejn’s renaissance castle (a World Heritage site), a Piarist Order’s schools and churches, a peasants’ revolt following forced bondage during the Thirty Years’ War, legendary fires, Wallenstein/Warttemberg-family lords of the castle, revolutionary events in 1848, and von Thurn and Taxis family rule. Find more here.

Culture

All that history occurred before 1855. After Hapsburg rule and Prince von Bach’s absolutism, educational societies and the August printing house began to attract famous writers, artists, and teachers, and the city became known for its national talents. Bedrich Smetana, composer of The Bartered Bride, founder of Bohemian national music, National Theater, and inspiration for Antonin Dvorak, spent his boyhood at Litomysl Chateau. His monument decorates Smetana Square.

The Frontier of Czech National Art
Looking down that long stretch of arcaded shops, Knights’ House, and printing house, all situated smack on the street without lawns, I was reminded of our Old West--not too much of a farfetched comparison, for Litomysl preserves the character of a small Bohemian town with pioneering spirit and, like Hemingway’s Oak Park, the perfect setting for nourishing talent. Take a walk to appreciate the symmetry. Reconstructed monastery gardens feature statuary that will make you smile.

Preserved Piarist churches and graffiti-decorated buildings are part of Litomysl’s Czech National character. Appreciate the look of it, and for the sound, attend a concert in the convent or castle gardens--and buy sheet music at the printing house.

Quick Tips:

Look at photos of performances one could see from the apartment windows here. Besides the amphitheatre and lawn, the indoor baroque theater is a stage for dramatic performances.

Art nouveau Smetana Hall is another theater venue.

Spend a week or an hour.
Anyone driving or riding the train can stop for 1 hour and walk to the castle to tour the home for centuries of the ruling families and the composer’s birthplace. If you have time for only one tour, make it the castle. Those with more time should stroll down center square and take a detour up Ulice Josef Vachal to study the artist’s graffiti beside Paseka Publishing (and Paseka Pensione) on their way to Portmoneum.

Best Way To Get Around:

An itinerary for the auto or train
Anyone wanting to get out of Prague and tour a few historic Czech cities might want to see Litomysl-Olomouc-Kromeriz, all relatively new World Heritage Sites. Trains run from Prague at least every 2 hours most days. For those driving, highways are good.

This spot in "a garden suburb," with walking trails and cycle tracks, was a fine choice for our road trip from Nove Mesto nad Metuji, one small historical town, to Litomysl, another small historical town. The fact that the hotel offers massage adds a little country-spa atmosphere to an already laid-back setting, but I wouldn’t call it a mountain spa. It’s an inexpensive family hotel with a good dining room that is open until 11pm.

Features and services
Our rooms had well-stocked minibars, which we used in this inexpensive area. The hotel offers luggage storage, Iinternet service, in-room safes, and an international phone line in each room. There is an indoor pool and whirlpool.

Rooms
Our rooms were impeccably clean and large, with nice frosted-glass doors that separated the bedroom from a private hallway leading to the bath. Bedding was clean, white, and crisp.

I had not only a desk but also a table and upholstered chair, where I could sit and enjoy morning coffee. Overall, rooms were at least as nice as most small-town Holiday Inns but cleaner. I had only one complaint: my converter flipped a breaker, leaving me in the dark without coffee until the front desk could get to the breaker box. The next night in Olomouc my converter worked fine, but I had to leave my room for coffee at Hotel Panorama, an establishment not wired with foreign tourists in mind. Some guests might also note the paucity of personal items, of no importance to me. There was a small tube of shampoo, but no conditioner, and a tube of shower gel. There were no irons, coffeepots, hair dryers, or washcloths. I was prepared with my own supplies, so I liked Hotel Panorama—except for that electrical shortcoming, important only to coffee addicts. Lighting was also a tad inadequate.

Restaurant
The restaurant is partitioned into several semi-private areas. We visited it for coffee and drinks until closing and again for breakfast. The list of international coffees, some with liquors, is impressive—but no American coffee. My instant—I had several since I couldn’t make it in my room—resembled thick mud made with 3 ounces of water. The next morning good coffee was on the buffet. The dinner menu is extensive, with Czech dishes, such as boar goulash, as well as other game entrées, pasta, and fish. The wine list includes French and Moravian selections. The morning buffet was hearty and good. After loads of eggs, sausage, fruit, and yogurt, we were ready to drive to Litomysl.

One could say, "The walls are alive… with the sound of drama." And this courtyard is alive in June and July with the sounds of Puccini, Verdi, and others during Smetana’s Litomysl Opera Festival, and again in September, with a youth version of the same festivities.

Sgraffito scratches
The plural is "sgraffiti." I saw more of this decoration in Litomysl than I am likely to see again. It’s a form of fresco painting for exterior walls. Some of the sgraffito on the castle is original, dating from 1580s. A rough plaster undercoat was applied over stone and overlaid with several thin coats, each with separate lime-fast color, then etched into a permanent fresco. Photos of the castle look make it look as though it were made of concrete block, because outer walls (outside the courtyard square) are entirely covered with small, individual designs, each bordered.

Don’t be misled by those photos and miss this castle! Close up, it’s beautiful!

UNESCO sings the praises!
But wait! The World Heritage designation of 1999 was not assigned to Litomysl Castle because of opera or sgraffiti! UNESCO explains that the complex of immaculately well-preserved buildings illustrates "in an exceptional way the aristocratic residences of central Europe in the Renaissance and their subsequent development under the influence of new artistic movements." Another note explains that this type of architectural style, the arcade-castle, was borrowed from Italy and modified in Czechia to create a highly developed form of "special architectural quality."

Aristocrats could sing--and write and act!
Vratislav of Pernstejn, the Trautmannsdorfs, the Wallenstein-Warttembergs, von Thurn, and Taxis family--those were the ruling families of the Litomysl demesne from the 1500s until the chateau passed into the hands of the state. Kosma Chronicle mentions the castle as far back as 981. That would have been a wooden structure, rebuilt in stone during Hussite Wars, acquired in 1567 by Pernstejn, and rebuilt by 1581 into a Renaissance chateau for himself and his wife, a Spanish Mendozo. Josef Wallenstein built the baroque theater after 1775 for his family’s and town’s favorite pastime, amateur dramatic productions. Also during the Wallenstein’s rule, Smetana’s father ran the brewery on the castle grounds, and the piano the composer played when he returned to perform is on view, as well as the chandelier donated by Milos Foreman after the filming of Amadeus. (Not filmed here.) So much a part of the community, the castle was declared a national treasure in 1962. It tells the story of the region.

Part of the complex
Inside the main castle building, the baroque theater is a part of the "ancillary structures" that UNESCO mentions in its justification for inclusion of the castle on its World Heritage List. Along with stables, amphitheater, brewery, chapel, and other structures, all remarkably preserved, the complex of buildings enables us to see how aristocratic central Europeans lived from the Renaissance on. Other ruling families attempted to re-Catholicise the region—the Catholic chapel is evidence of the influence of Spanish wives. The Wallensteins, on the other hand, didn’t create any friction within the community, but lived happily with those they ruled, sharing with them their enthusiasm for drama. Most original plays staged here were comedies.

One national treasure inside another
Another measure of its value, the theater is one of about five remaining or restored baroque theaters in Europe. I was so enamored of the place, I asked our guide, "Where are the others?" I had visions of roaming the continent to find more! She believed that Russia and Sweden (Drottningholm, I’ve found) each have one—places I’m not likely to see soon. But another in the Czech Republic (Cesky Krumlov) and one in Austria spell "theme itinerary." (The Austrian reference may be the faux-baroque opera theater in Graz, much more recent, built at the end of the 19th century.)

"Baroque" and "charm" do marry!
I have never equated baroque with "charming." To me, the decor is highly stylized, affected, and contrived. The setting of theater changes that.

The stage was designed by the same man who created the setting for the opening of Don Giovanni in Prague. (See overview photo.) My first glimpse of the room elicited a wondrous "ah," and I wanted to stay longer than the tour allowed. Before I return to Czech Republic, I must find a schedule for this venue!

Charm by candlelight
Productions here are likely to be early plays or baroque operas. Even during the Smetana Festival, this stage hosts the baroque selections, such as Venus and Adonis or Dido and Aeneas, among the earliest operas. Our guide explained that 60 candles were required to light the stage, and that is the reason many, many chimney sweeps attended each performance—to put out fires! Benches along the walls were built especially for them.

Oh, to return to a simpler time, before machinery and digital manipulation! Baroque can be simply charming!

Walk down his street!
We turned off Smetana Square onto ulice Josefa Vachala--even without the sign, most walkers would notice the sgraffiti on the side of the Paseka building and detour to see it!

About "Paseka," the name of one of Vachal’s characters, which he repeated for the name of his own publishing house--it’s a name one sees frequently around Litomysl. And it was the same Paseka Publishing he started that saved his museum, Portmoneum, from oblivion when they acquired it in 1991 and restored his phantasmagoric wall and ceiling murals and painted furniture. Before we walked on to the museum, we took a closer look at the sgraffiti copies of his engravings and illustrations on the side of the publishers’ building.

One member of our group thought his etchings were "in the tradition of William Blake." I was reminded of Aubrey Beardsley until I found Blake’s "Satan Inflicting Boils on Job." Aha, I see a similarity now between Blake’s work and Vachal’s "The Devil’s Garden." We learned a little about one of his novels, Bloody Novel (1924), from a member of the group--it probably started a horror trend! He also wrote Murder Story.

Demons and devils
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside Portmoneum, but you can see what the inside looks like here. The exterior is not distinguished--Josef Portman was a retired clerk.

The museum is made up of three rooms completely covered with images of Vachal’s nightmares, which troubled him his entire life. In one room, his WWI demons come alive--he thought he’d get rid of them by painting them. I could discern on one wall the influence of the German Romantics, and I learned that Vachal was also impressed by Nietzsche and by Freemasons. Most paintings have captions, and rather simplistic ones at that: "Lies and ignorance walk together" and "Devil made a woman."

Czech modernism
The work displayed in Portmoneum has been called "carnivalesque" and "a mardi gras for everyday." More sedate are the photos of Vachal taken throughout his life and showcased as a little life history. No matter how Vachal is categorized, the Czech Republic points to him as an example of Czech Modernism. Others in my group bought some posters ($4) before we left. I didn’t think any of them matched my decor! Even without a souvenir, I’m not likely to forget Josef Vachal!