The town of Strakonice lies a short distance from the towns of Pisek and České Budějovice in the South Bohemian Region. There are many historical monuments, the most important of which is Strakonice castle. The Main Square in the city center is filled with historic houses with richly-decorated façades. Particularly notable are the bank building of Česká spořitelna with its sgraffito decoration, the former town hall, and shops selling traditional smoked produce.

What to visit:

In Palacky Square you can see the landmark Baroque Marian Column as well as an unusual replica of Stonehenge built by the experimental archaeologist Pavel Pavel.

Strakonice castle was founded around 1200 by the lords of Bavor. The original corridor with brick ribbing and wall paintings is interesting. The dominant feature of the castle is the Rumpal tower. The castle became the main seat of the religious order of the Johannites. Later, the castle was rebuilt and another tower was added, named the Jelenka tower. At the beginning of the 17th century, the chateau and gardens were modified in the Baroque style.

Points of interest in the surroundings area
What connects Strakonice with the moai statues of Easter Island and Stonehenge in southwest England? The answer is that Strakonice contains replicas of both, created by Pavel Pavel, whose unusual repeated name makes him a kind of replica in himself!

An enterprising engineer from Strakonice, it was Pavel who solved the mystery as to how the moia statues “walked” around Easter Island. In 1982 he demonstrated how it would have taken only 17 people to make each statue ‚walk‘. Four years later, he was invited to join Thor Heyerdahl’s expedition to Easter Island to repeat his experiment, successfully demonstrating it using an original statue.

Not satisfied with solving the mystery of the moai, Pavel next turned his attention to how the lintels or capstones were placed on the uprights at Stonehenge. And this is why you can see a life-size replica of part of Stonehenge on the left bank of the River Otava.

And at the risk of replicating ourselves, we invite you to come to Strakonice with our driver to see for yourself!