Exciting views from the tower - Louny
The town of Louny with its rich history is located near the Ohře River, lined with distinctive hills of the Czech Central Mountains. With chivalrous grandeur we will approach the Žatecká Gate, decorated with the coat of arms, and enter the historic centre from the west side. Here, well-preserved stone town walls begin, including two gun turrets. On the north side, the town walls stretch over the Ohře River. The segmentation of buildings and the surrounding countryside can be best seen from the huge tower of the St. Mikuláš (Nicholas) - the pride of the town. Our effort to climb 186 stairs is well worth it, because the view of the town with beautiful spiky hills in the background is impressive. In the tower you may also see a wooden Bethlehem scene and the apartment of the night watchman with historical photographs. On the second floor of the tower we will find old oak chests, where the town council used to store acquired privileges. Inside the temple you must see the monumental altar and a stone pulpit, dating back to 1540. The picturesque narrow streets lined with well-preserved town houses and repaired facades are worth admiring. In the town's core and the square you may see many houses with historical value. One of these buildings is the Dům Sokolů z Mor (House of Falcons of Mor) with a facade decorated with a robust, late-Gothic window bay and with a well-preserved vaulted Gothic hall on the ground floor. The Museum offers visitors two permanent exhibitions focusing on historical and natural sciences and various objects from this region. Another interesting sight in Louny is the technical monument called the inundation bridge. It was built during the Napoleonic wars, when the road to Leipzig was also built. The bridge has 40 arches and was also used to pass over often flooded fields between Louny and Dobroměřice. A few hundred metres to the right and near the Ohře River you may see beautiful Jiráskovy mills built in the new Renaissance style. After exploring these mills we may finish our interesting stop in Louny. Pursuing Oldřich and Božena all the way to Peruc - Peruc. From Louny we will go towards the east until we reach the Peruc Chateau 14 km away. The castle is located at a place where a Gothic fortress used to be, which was mentioned as early as in the 12th century. In 1673, Peruc was bought by Jan Jetřich of Ledebur whose descendants lived there until 1798. During the reign of the Ledebur family a castle was built in Peruc. Today the castle is a part of the sloped town square of E. Filla, where you will find the dominant church of St. Peter and Paul. The castle is not yet open to the public, but in 1999 a Memorial Hall of Emil Filla was reopened in one of the castle wings and thanks to that you may see his work there. Between 1947 -1952, this well-recognized Czech painter, artist and sculptor lived and worked in the south wing of the castle, which is surrounded by a beautiful park with the Czech Village Museum, located in the renovated building of the former Baroque granary. Here, we may see old farm machinery, various tools, instruments and objects, which have always been a part of life in the Czech countryside, but also a puppet theatre and an old school classroom. Two kilometres to the north along the blue tourist trail, you will find, right in the middle of the forest, a unique and beautiful (Čechov's) viewing post, where you may see unforgettable views of the Czech Central Mountains. Here, Emil Filla created his beautiful paintings and Čech his poetry. One of the most famous legends is the story of Prince Oldřich of the Přemysl family and the beautiful laundress Božena. We may reminisce about this old time and the legend, near Božena's wells under the castle or under Oldřich's oak tree where they used to meet. We may take a look at the old oak on our way to the Krásná viewing post, where the blue tourist sign mentioned earlier will take us.
