8 Best Sights in Moravia, Czech Republic

One of Moravia's most impressive castles, 30 km (18 miles) west of Olomouc, has been featured in several fairy-tale films. Its present romanticized exterior comes from a remodeling at the turn of the 20th century, but the basic structure dates back to the 1300s. Owned by the Order of Teutonic Knights from the late 1600s up to the end of World War II, it was later confiscated by the state. Inside, the knights' hall has extensive carved-wood decorations and wall paintings that look old, even if many are reconstructions. Other rooms have collections of period furniture. The castle kitchen, which was used until 1945, is one of the best-preserved examples. The castle offers several tours, some aimed at children and one that shows off the wedding hall and knights' hall. You can easily arrange a tour from the tourist information office in Olomouc; the castle is included in the Olomouc Region Card.

In the northwest corner of Horní náměstí, the eccentric Trinity Column is one of the best surviving examples of the Olomouc baroque style, which was prevalent in this region of Moravia after the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century. At 115 feet, it's the tallest column devoted to victims of the plague in the Czech Republic. The column alone (not the rest of the square) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its construction began in 1717, but it was not completed until 1754, long after the death of its principal designer, Václav Render, who left all his wealth to the city of Olomouc so that the column could be finished. Inside is a small chapel that, unfortunately, is never open.

This ornate complex is home to treasures from the collections of the archdiocese, including golden monstrances, religious paintings, carved ivory objects, and a full-sized gilded coach. Modern art is also displayed in part of the building complex and included in the same admission, but it is often a bit disappointing in comparison. In 1767 the young musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, age 11, spent six weeks recovering from a mild attack of chicken pox and completed his Sixth Symphony here. The 16-year-old King Wenceslas III suffered a much worse fate here in 1306, when he was murdered, putting an end to the Přemyslid dynasty.

Nothing is left of the original Church of St. Maurice that stood just north of Horní náměstí in 1257. This is a new church started in 1412 on the same site and remodeled many times. Its current fierce, gray exterior dates to the middle of the 16th century. A sculpture of Christ on the Mount of Olives dates to the 15th century. The baroque organ inside, the largest in the Czech Republic, originally contained 2,311 pipes until it was expanded in the 1960s to more than 10,000 pipes. An international organ festival takes place in the church every September. The tower is sometimes open to the public, depending on the weather. A large renovation was finished in 2021.

Between the main square and this cathedral lies a peaceful neighborhood given over to huge buildings, mostly belonging either to the university or the archbishop. The church itself is impressive, but its Gothic appearance comes only from a 19th-century makeover. A shrine has an ornate case with the relics of St. Jan Sarkander, a 17th-century priest who was tortured. A plaque marks the fact that Pope John Paul II celebrated mass there in 1995. The crypt, which has erratic hours depending on exhibitions, has a marble box with the heart of an archduke who otherwise is buried in Vienna. Some ecclesiastical treasures are also on display.

The interior of this triple-domed church casts a dramatic spell. The frescoes, the high and airy central dome, and the shades of rose, beige, and gray trompe-l'oeil marble on walls and arches work in concert to present a harmonious whole. The decoration followed a fire in 1709, only 30 years after the original construction. Another renovation took place in the 1890s. The architect and builder are not known, but it's surmised they are the same team that put up the Church of the Annunciation on Svatý Kopeček (Holy Hill), a popular Catholic pilgrimage site just outside Olomouc.

Olomouc's central square is marked by the bright, spire-bedecked Renaissance Town Hall with its 220-foot tower. The tower was constructed in the late 14th century. The modern socialist-realist mosaic decorations of the current clock on the face of the tower date to 1955. It replaced an astronomical clock built in 1422 that once rivaled the one in Prague. It was mostly destroyed by an artillery shell on the last two days of World War II. Be sure to look inside the Town Hall at the beautiful stairway. You can also visit a large Gothic banquet room in the main building, with scenes from the city's history, and a late-Gothic chapel. The Town Hall was renovated in late 2019 and early 2020, and the wooden interior of the tower was completely rebuilt. Tours of the tower are given several times daily; tours of the rest of the building are by appointment. An audio guide to the city can be borrowed from the information center in the Town Hall.

Next to the Cathedral of St. Wenceslas is a complex of buildings that for centuries were the center of the archdiocese. The oldest, commonly called Palác Přemyslovců (Přemyslid Palace), houses a museum where you can see early-16th-century wall paintings decorating the Gothic cloisters and, upstairs, a wonderful series of Romanesque windows and displays of sculpted stonework fragments. This part of the building was used as a schoolroom some 700 years ago, and you can still make out drawings of animals engraved on the walls by young vandals.