Kutná Hora

Silver lay in the hills here long before the town: coins were already being struck at the fort of Malín in the late 10th century. In 1142 monks from Waldsassen in Bavaria founded Sedlec Abbey, the first Cistercian house in Bohemia, and the discovery of silver on its land drew settlers, many from German-speaking regions. Mining began in earnest around 1260, and the town is first recorded as Mons Cuthna in 1289. In 1300 King Wenceslas II issued a royal mining code, and soon afterwards the Italian Court became the central mint of the Czech lands, striking the Prague groschen. Kutná Hora grew into the second town of the kingdom and its financial centre.

The wealth paid for the Church of St Barbara, begun in the 1380s to rival St Vitus. In 1409 Wenceslas IV signed the Decree of Kutná Hora here, reshaping Prague University in favour of the Czechs. The Hussite Wars brought battle, the burning of Sedlec Abbey in 1421 and the expulsion of part of the German population; a religious peace was agreed in the town in 1485.

Flooding in the deepest shafts and poorer ore cut mining back in the 1530s, the groschen ceased in 1547 and mining stopped in 1625. The Jesuits arrived in 1626 and made the town a centre of education, while Swedish raids in 1639 and 1643 caused heavy damage. The mint closed in 1727, ending the mining era. The Jewish community was destroyed by deportations during the Nazi occupation. In 1995 the historic centre and Sedlec were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kutná Hora's identity is still that of a mining town. Miners stand alongside the saints on the plague column, Baugut's statues line the promenade to St Barbara, and the church itself, dedicated to the patron saint of miners, is the town's emblem. The silver museum in Hrádek and the tours through the medieval workings keep that history close, and silver jewellery is sold in the shops of the centre.

The biggest event of the year is the Royal Silvering, held at the end of June since 1992. It re-creates a visit by King Wenceslas IV to the town as it would have been six hundred years earlier, with historical sword fighting, theatre and music, and many residents in costume. The town also hosts a recitation competition named after the poet Jiří Orten, an international guitar competition every two years and a folk festival.

In 2023 the Sedlec area and St Barbara drew about 290,000 and 250,000 visitors, and the town lives with a steady flow of day visitors from Prague. The Sedlec Ossuary, its bones arranged as garlands, a coat of arms and a chandelier, is both a sight and a consecrated chapel, and visitors are expected to behave accordingly. The GASK gallery in the Jesuit College brings 20th- and 21st-century art to the old town, and the town's past was recreated in the Czech video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

About 22,000 people live in Kutná Hora, spread across twelve municipal parts that include the historic centre, Sedlec and Malín. The town sits between the farming country of the Central Elbe Table to the east and the Upper Sázava Hills to the west.

Tourism is one of the main sources of work, but industry matters as much. A tobacco factory has occupied the buildings of the former Cistercian monastery in Sedlec since 1812, making cigarettes since 1882; owned by Philip Morris since 1992, it employs more than 800 people. The largest employer based in the town is an electronics manufacturer with more than 1,500 staff. The I/2 road from Prague to Pardubice runs through the town, and the Prague–Brno railway gives easy access to Kolín and the capital.

Daily life in the old town follows the rhythm of the visitors: busy streets around St Barbara and the main square by day, and quiet after the last trains back to Prague have gone. Beyond the centre most of the town is residential, and the walk from the main station to the sights passes through ordinary streets of homes.

Kutná Hora's pubs and restaurants serve the Bohemian standards. Bread dumplings, knedlíky, steamed and sliced like bread, come with most main courses; roast duck is served with dumplings and braised red cabbage; and guláš, a stew of beef, pork or game with onions and spices, comes with dumplings or bread. Goulash soup, gulášovka, and broths with liver or nutmeg dumplings are common starters, and potato dumplings filled with smoked meat, uzené, and served with sauerkraut are another country classic.

Brewing has a long history in the town. A brewery is recorded from 1538, founded by the Dačický of Heslov family, and it kept brewing until it closed in 2010. The cellars of the Ursuline convent, designed by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer in the 18th century, are used commercially as wine cellars.

The best-placed places to eat are the bars, restaurants and cafés gathered below St Barbara, some with views across the valley to the south, and the restaurants around Palackého náměstí. Souvenir shops near the ossuary sell some of the town's more unusual keepsakes.