Bohemian Kamnitz (Česká Kamenice)

If you take a trip to Česká Kamenice, you will soon realise that you are in a town full of unusual monuments surrounded by beautiful nature - panoramic rocks and wooded hills. So I invite you on a very special walk - first through the listed town centre, which comprises 36 properties!

The best-preserved historic town centre in Bohemian Switzerland

First we will visit the picturesque Kamnitz market square. If you stand right in its middle, i.e. at the nine-cornered Renaissance fountain, and look around, you will certainly be fascinated by the magnificent town houses and especially the classicist town hall (no. 219) with the inscription "Palladium civitatis" (shield of the town) on the portal cornice. Near the town hall is an original building (no. 253) - the former "Adler" inn with a remarkable roof construction and high double gable. Don't forget to pay a visit to the Bürgerhaus at no. 73 on the opposite side, where the tourist information office is located. There you will be nicely advised and can, among other things, purchase a city map on which the monuments are marked. This should prepare you for a historical tour of the city. A few metres from the tourist information office and the market square is another sight of the city - the Gothic and Renaissance St. James Church. Among other things, it is worth noting that Antonín Dvořák played the organ there more than two hundred years ago. In addition to a tour of the church, you can also climb the 46-metre-high tower, where the entire historic town centre, as well as the beautiful surroundings, lie at your feet.

Gorgeous place of pilgrimage

To have been to Česká Kamenice and not visited the town's architectural jewel - the Nativity of the Virgin Mary pilgrimage chapel - would truly be a sin. The round central building by architect Octavio Broggio from the first half of the 18th century, the time of the High Baroque, is in fact a beautiful, mystical place with its picturesque porticoes and domed roof that encourages inner contemplation. When visiting this object, you will discover a statue of the Virgin Mary at the main altar. Numerous miracle stories are entwined around this figure of Mary, which once attracted crowds of pilgrims ...

Back to nature ...

After so many beautiful historical and architectural treasures, it is now time to get out into nature. For example, it is only about 2 km from the market square to the basalt rock with the apt name "Jehla" (dt. Nolde, dialect for needle) on the blue-marked hiking trail. This leads past rocks made of columnar basalt and a hollow called "Trpasličí pánev" (Dwarf Pool) to the aforementioned lookout rock. From there you have a view of the whole town, but also of the peaks of the Lusatian Mountains, the Bohemian Uplands and Bohemian Switzerland. On the opposite hill there is a somewhat higher vantage point (530 m), which is also easy to reach from the town centre: the romantic-looking ruins of Kempnitz Castle (also Kampnitz, Czech: Kamenický hrad) with a lookout tower on the so-called Castle Hill (Zámecký vrch).