2015

Trip to Czech Republic PRAGUE & BRNO FCLILLY

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Table of Contents Trip worksheet Prague ................................................................................................................................. 2

Flight Information Prague ............................................................................................................................ 4

Hotel Information Prague ............................................................................................................................ 6

Prague Public Transportation Tickets and Passes ....................................................................................... 7

Prague Airport Shuttles ................................................................................................................................ 8

Restaurants near Central Station Studios ................................................................................................... 9

Attraction 1 old town square ..................................................................................................................... 10

Attraction 2 Prague Castle ......................................................................................................................... 11

Tickets ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

Old Town Square Write Up ........................................................................................................................ 12

Proposed Budget Prague ............................................................................................................................ 14

Trip worksheet Brno ................................................................................................................................... 15

Train Ticket Brno ........................................................................................................................................ 17

Hotel Brno ................................................................................................................................................... 18

Restaurants near Penzion Integrity hotel .................................................................................................. 19

Brno: Public transportation Information ................................................................................................... 20

Attraction 1 Brno ........................................................................................................................................ 21

Attraction 2 Brno ........................................................................................................................................ 22

Spilberk Castle Write up ............................................................................................................................. 23

Brno Proposed Budget ............................................................................................................................... 28

Travel Map .................................................................................................................................................. 29

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Trip worksheet Prague

Stop # 1 Prague

Dates Date Arriving December 5 2015 Date Departing December 7, 2015

Place City Name Prague Province Czech Republic

Flight/Train Info

Flight/train name and number Air Canada, Flight 9060

Date and Time of Arrival into city December 5, 2015 - Arrive: 01:55 pm

Date and Time of departure from city December 15, 2015 02:45 pm Cost of Flight CAD $ 598.90

Hotel Info Hotel Name and address Central Station Studios Rehorova 3 Žižkov Prague 130 00 CZ

Check in Date Saturday, December 5, 2015 Check out Date Sunday, December 7, 2015 Cost of Hotel 39,00€/day Attractions

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Attraction # 1 name and address Old town Square Time of event - open event -anytime Cost of event Free Method of transportation Public Transportation Attraction # 2 name and address Prague Castle 119 08 Prague 1, Czech Republic

Time of event 6.00 - 23.00 in the winter season November 1 - March 31) Cost of event CZK 350 Method of transportation Public Transportation

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Flight Information Prague

1 Round-Trip Ticket

All flight times are local to each city.

Fri, Dec 4, 2015 Online check-in code: LKJJ4R

Depart: 05:45 pm Arrive: 07:15 pm

Charlottetown, PE (YYG) Toronto, ON (YYZ)

Air Canada, Flight 7342 Economy Class Operated by AIR CANADA EXPRESS - AIR GEORGIAN

1 Stop - change planes in Toronto, (YYZ) Connection Time: 2 hrs 5 mins

Depart: 09:20 pm Arrive: 11:05 am

Toronto, ON (YYZ) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)

Air Canada, Flight 876 Economy Class

1 Stop - change planes in Frankfurt, (FRA) Connection Time: 1 hr 50 mins

Seat request: 27K

Depart: 12:55 pm Arrive: 01:55 pm Next day

Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) Prague, Czech Republic (PRG)

Air Canada, Flight 9060 Economy Class Operated by LUFTHANSA OR LH CITYLINE

Total Travel Time: 15 hrs 10 mins

Tue, Dec 15, 2015 Online check-in code: LKJJ4R

Depart: 02:45 pm Arrive: 03:55 pm

Prague, Czech Republic (PRG) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)

Air Canada, Flight 9289 Economy Class Operated by LUFTHANSA OR LH CITYLINE

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1 Stop - change planes in Frankfurt, (FRA) Connection Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Depart: 05:10 pm Arrive: 07:50 pm

Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) Toronto, ON (YYZ)

Air Canada, Flight 877 Economy Class

1 Stop - change planes in Toronto, (YYZ) Connection Time: 2 hrs 25 mins

Seat request: 27A

Depart: 10:15 pm Arrive: 01:18 am Next day

Toronto, ON (YYZ) Charlottetown, PE (YYG)

Air Canada, Flight 7339 Economy Class Operated by AIR CANADA EXPRESS - AIR GEORGIAN

Payment Selection

You paid CAD $ 598.90 for other charges.

RBC Rewards Redemption Summary

Total Charged to Visa ending in 1031: Total Redemption

CAD $ 598.90 65,000 points

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Hotel Information Prague

Central Station Studios

Rehorova 3 Žižkov Prague 130 00 CZ

+420721329228

Hotels.com confirmation number 8023552133004

Check-in Saturday, December 5, 2015 (1:00 PM)

Registrace Sobota, 5. prosinec 2015 (1:00 PM)

Check-out Monday, December 7, 2015 (11:00 AM)

Odhlášení Neděle, 6. prosinec 2015 (11:00 AM)

Your stay 2 night, 1 room

Cancellation policy Free cancellation until 12/04/2015 11:59 PM (GMT+02:00)

Total amount to pay at hotel in their local currency

78,00€

Use our app for paperless check in. Need access to this confirmation offline? Get our app.

Download app now

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Prague Public Transportation Tickets and Passes Single-Trip Tickets The Prague public transport system uses two types of single-trip tickets: • 30-minute ticket: 24 CZK • 90-minute ticket: 32 CZK Adults: 24 CZK Children 6-15 years: 12 CZK Children under 6: free

Adults: 32 CZK Children 6-15 years: 16 CZK Children under 6: free

If necessary, you can buy a 90-minute ticket directly from the driver for 40 CZK. Both tickets can be used on any type of public transportation and allow transfers between lines (subway to subway, tram to tram, etc.) and transfers between different types of transport (subway to tram, tram to bus, etc.) for up to 30/90 minutes from validation. Tickets are sold through yellow ticket vending machines (also in English, coins only), at ticket offices located at some metro stations, at a Tabák/Trafika, at some newsstands, and at tourist information centers. You can also buy tickets by using your mobile phone andsending the text message "DPT24" or "DPT32" to the number 902 06. Your ticket will usually be sent to your phone within one minute. A ticket must be punched at the entrance to the metro station and on the tram/bus to mark the start of the validation period. If you requested a ticket by SMS, you must have received your ticket before you enter the vehicle or the paid zone on the subway. Passes There are several short-term and long-term passes available: • Short-term (tourist) passes 24-hour pass: 110 CZK (children 6-15 years: 55 CZK) 3-day pass (72 hours): 310 CZK • Long-term passes (issued with a photo-ID) Monthly: 550 CZK Quarterly: 1,480 CZK 5-month: 2,450 CZK Annual: 4,750 CZK

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Prague Airport Shuttles http://www.prague-airport-shuttle.cz/

Price List One fixed price to all hotels in Prague

PRICE FOR GROUP OF

1 pax

2 pax 3 pax

4 pax

5 pax

6 pax

7 pax

MORE PERSONS

ONEWAY 290 CZK

450 CZK

480 CZK

500 CZK

660 CZK

680 CZK

700 CZK ask us

ONEWAY 11 EUR

17 EUR

18,5 EUR

19 EUR

25 EUR

26 EUR

27 EUR ask us

Shuttle prices are quoted to any hotel in Prague and to most private addresses in Prague (check our online booking to see if your area is covered), including VAT. This is not an exclusive transfer service, and you will share a minivan or sedan with other passengers – unless you are the only person to order a shuttle at a given time.

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Restaurants near Central Station Studios

Čestr Restaurant·Legerova

Stylish, modern restaurant for red meat

Open until 11:00 pm

Aromi Italian·Náměstí Míru

Casual brick-walled Italian restaurant

Open until 11:00 pm

Pasta Fresca Italian·Celetná

Cheery restaurant for Italian classics

Open until 12:00 am

Brasileiro - U Radnice Restaurant·U Radnice

All-you-can-eat Brazilian churrascaria

Open until 12:00 am

Restaurace U Pinkasů Czech·Jungmannovo nám.

Open until 11:30 pm

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Attraction 1 old town square

Directions

Old Town Square Plaza

Old Town Square is a historic square in the Old Town quarter of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It is located between Wenceslas Square and the Charles Bridge. Wikipedia

Address: Staroměstské nám., 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic Phone: +420 221 714 444

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Attraction 2 Prague Castle

Tickets

Admission to Prague Castle premises (valid from 1st April 2014) Tours for visitors (types of tickets)

Prague Castle – Circuit A St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, exhibition The Story of Prague Castle, St. George's Basilica, Golden Lane with

Daliborka Tower, Powder Tower, Rosenberg Palace Prague Castle – Circuit B

St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower Prague Castle – Circuit C

Exhibition The Treasure of St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle Picture Gallery Exhibition The Story of Prague Castle

Exhibition The Treasure of St. Vitus Cathedral Prague Castle Picture Gallery

Powder Tower – Exhibition of the Castle Guard Great South Tower with a View Gallery

Admission Fee to Historical Premises of Prague Castle managed by Prague Castle Administration

Type of ticket Full

admission Discount

(*) Family admission

(**)

Prague Castle – Circuit A CZK 350 CZK 175 CZK 700

Prague Castle – Circuit B CZK 250 CZK 125 CZK 500

Prague Castle – Circuit C CZK 350 CZK 175 CZK 700

Exhibition The Story of Prague Castle CZK 140 CZK 70 CZK 280

Prague Castle Picture Gallery CZK 100 CZK 50 CZK 200

Powder Tower CZK 70 CZK 40 CZK 140

Exhibition The Treasure of St. Vitus Cathedral CZK 300 CZK 150 CZK 600

Great South Tower with a View Gallery CZK 150 – –

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Old Town Square Write Up

The Old Town Square is the oldest and most important square of the historical Prague. It is surrounded with historical buildings such as the Old Town City Hall with the famous Astronomical Clock, the imposing St. Nicholas Church and Church of Our Lady before Tyn, and many houses and palaces of various architectural styles and colourful history. It has been a centre of Prague Old Town since the middle ages, when it was a market place at the crossing of European merchants´ roads.

Medieval houses at the square

The first houses were built around the Old Town Square in the 12 th and 13 th century. Some of the present houses still have their Romanesque or Gothic foundations, basements or ground floors. The Old Town City Hall was built in the 14 th century and

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the Church of Our Lady before Tyn a little later. The Old Town Square became the economic and political center of Prague Old Town.

Coronation parades used to go through the Old Town Square to the Prague Castle since 1311. Tragic events, such as executions, took place there as well. Leader of poor Prague citizens Jan Zelivsky was executed there in 1422, which caused stormy protests.

Execution of rebellion leaders at the Old Town Square

One of the turning-points of Czech history, the execution of 27 leaders of the rebellion against Emperor Matthias, took place there in 1621. You can see 27 crosses in the pavement by the Old Town City Hall, as well as symbols of swords and a thorn crown, commemorating the sad event. A legend says, that the ghosts of the executed noblemen return to the square every year on 21st of June, the day of the execution.

Some objects that used to stand at the Old Town Square in the past, can´t be seen there anymore, for example the Marian column from 1650. It was the second oldest column in Europe, but it was pulled down in 1918.

Prague meridian

You can still see the Prague meridian in the paving of the square. It indicates the place, where the former Marian column used to cast its shadow at noon. There is an inscription in Czech and Latin language, saying that time used to be measured according to the meridian.

Jan Hus monument

The monument of the Protestant reformer Jan Hus, burnt as a heretic in 1415, is situated in the middle of the Old Town Square since 1915.

Many important political events and demonstrations, that changed the Czech history in the 20 thcentury, took place at the square. People demanded an independent republic there in 1918 and Klement Gottwald had his speech there in 1948, declaring the start of socialism in Czechoslovakia. People still gather at the Old Town Square on the occasions of important events. Also the traditional Christmas markets take place there.

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Proposed Budget Prague Activity Cost Page

Flight 598.90 4-5

Hotel Information Prague

78 Euro’s approx. $111.78

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Prague Public Transportation

110 CZK/day X 2=220CZK, $11.67 Can

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Shuttle from airport

290 CZK = $15.37 Can 8

Breakfast $20/day X 2 days =$40 9 Lunch $25/day X 2 days =$50 9

Dinner $35/day X 2 days= $70 9

Attraction 1 Free 10 Attraction 2 350CZK = $18.54 Can 11 Emergency funds $150 Total $1066.26

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Trip worksheet Brno

Trip across Canada

Stop # 2 - BRNO

Dates Date Arriving December 7, 2015 Date Departing December 9, 2015

Place City Name BRNO Province Czech Republic

Flight/Train Info

Flight/train name and number RJ 77 Antonín Dvořák

Date and Time of Arrival into city 15:19 Brno

Date and Time of departure from city 12:42 Prague Cost of Train $35.81

Hotel Info Hotel Name and address Penzion Integrity Hlinky 128, Brno - střed, Brno, 603 00, Czech Republic

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Check in Date Sunday 6 December 2015 Check out Date Tuesday 7 December 2015 Cost of Hotel € 112 approx $160.50 CAD

Attractions Attraction # 1 name and address Freedom Square - náměstí Svobody Brno 602 00 Time of event- open event -anytime Cost of event Free Method of transportation Public Transportation Attraction # 2 name and address Špilberk Castle - 210/1, 662 24 Brno, Czech Republic Time of event -Tuesday - Sunday 9:00 to 17:00 Cost of event -90 CZK approx. $4.76 CAD Method of transportation Public Transportation

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Train Ticket Brno

From station: Praha hl.n. (Prague main railway station)

To station: Brno hl.n. (Brno Central railway station)

Direct trains: Prague - Brno

Train Dep. Arr. eTicket €19 *

2nd / 1st class €18 / €25 **

RJ 77 Antonín Dvořák 12:42 15:19 Buy now Buy now

EC 173 Porta Bohemica 13:42 16:19 Buy now Buy now

RJ 79 Johann Strauss 14:42 17:19 Buy now Buy now

EC 175 Jan Jesenius 15:42 18:19 Buy now Buy now

RJ 371 Joseph Haydn 16:42 19:19 Buy now Buy now

Schedule valid from 2014-12-14 to 2015-12-12

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Hotel Brno

Thank you, Forrest! Your reservation is now confirmed. Did you know you can book your business stays with Booking.com?

Get the print version

Paperless confirmation

Penzion Integrity Value Deal Hlinky 128, Brno - střed, Brno, 603 00, Czech Republic - Show directions

Phone: +420721647598

Manage your booking

Paperless confirmation

Your reservation 2 nights, 1 room Change

Check-in Sunday 6 December 2015 (2:00 PM - 9:00 PM)

Check-out Tuesday 8 December 2015 (until 10:00 AM)

1 Double or Twin Room

15 % VAT is included.

€ 0.60 City tax per person per night is included.

Total price € 112 Best Price Guaranteed

You'll pay when you stay at Penzion Integrity

You will pay the hotel in the hotel’s local currency (CZK) at the exchange rate on day of payment.

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Restaurants near Penzion Integrity hotel

Restaurant Borgo Agnese Brno Restaurant·Kopečná

Open until 12:00 AM

Stopkova Plzeňská Pivnice Restaurant·Česká

Open until 12:00 AM

KOISHI

Sushi·Údolní

Open until 11:00 PM

Palazzo Restaurant

Restaurant·Biskupská

Opens at 7:00 PM

La Bouchée

Restaurant·Údolní

Satyam

Indian·Křížkovského

Open until 11:00 PM

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Brno: Public transportation Information

Municipal transport: The operator of municipal transport in Brno is DPMB (Dopravní podnik města Brna). Its tarrification and lines are coordinated by KORDIS with whole Integrated transport system of Southern Moravia (IDS-JMK = Integrovaný dopravní systém Jihomoravského kraje). DPMB provides trams, trolleybuses, bus lines and even the shipping traffic on the dam lake. Tickets can be bought in vending machines, located near stops, at the tobacconist's, or DPMB centers (the largest one is in Novobranská 18 and is opened every day). There is huge amount of ticket types. It varies according to time and zones you would like to pass through. As Brno is divided into 2 zones (marked as 100 and 101), you could manage just with this basic types:

- 15minutes ticket (2zones, costs 20Kč and allows you to transfer freely to other trams, busses, etc);

- 60minutes ticket (2zones, costs 25Kč and also allows you to transfer);

- 90minutes ticket (3 zones, costs 27Kč);

- all day ticket (2 zones, costs 80Kč);

- 3day ticket (2zones, costs 200Kč);

- 7day ticket (2zones, costs 330Kč).

For those, who are going to Masaryk's Circuit: you can use a bus line 402 from Satrý Lískovec, but note, that circuit is in zone 410, so you will need a 3zone ticket 27Kč, 90min's).

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Attraction 1 Brno Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul

Address: Petrov 9, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic Phone Number: +420 543 235 031

Hours: Sun 7:00 - 18:30 Mon - Sat 8:15 - 18:30 Cost – Free

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Attraction 2 Brno

Spilberk Castle

Address: Spilberk 210/1, Brno, Czech Republic Winter season: 1st October - 30th April

Tuesday - Sunday 9:00 - 17:00

full admission fee: 90 Kč

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Spilberk Castle Write up

For over seven centuries, Špilberk Castle has dominated the skyline of Brno, a reminder of the safety and protection it provided. However, there have been times in the history of Brno when the fortress inspired fear, and represented oppression for the citizens of the city.

Over the course of the centuries, the importance of Špilberk and the part it has played have changed considerably. From a major royal castle and the seat of the Moravian margraves, it gradually turned into a huge baroque fortress, the heaviest prison in the Austro-Hungarian empire (the infamous „dungeon of the nations“), and then a barracks. Today, Špilberk houses the Brno City Museum, and is one of the most significant cultural centres in Brno. It was certified as a national heritage monument in 1962.

The castle was established around the mid-13th century on fairly low; but rather steep, rocky hill (290 m), rising directly over the historical centre of the town (at about 220 m). Its builder, Czech King Přemysl Otakar II, approached it as a solid pillar of royal power as well as a seat for the rulers of Moravia, worthy of respect. The oldest written records of the existence of the castle relate to the years 1277-1279, when the castle chapels, an assembly held on the castle premises (January 1278) and finally the name of the hill – soon transferred to the castle itself – were documented. However, Czech rulers were to visit Špilberk only occasionally; the same was true of the young Moravian Margrave Charles, later the Czech king, whose first wife Blanche stayed there in 1337 after being obliged to leave Prague. Špilberk became the actual castle seat of the Moravian margraves only in the mid-14thcentury, under Jan Jindřich (1350-1375) and his son Jošt (1375-1411). This period,

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marked by the autonomous rule of the „Moravian“ Luxembourgs, the brother and nephew of King Charles IV, lasted a mere six decades, but definitely constitutes the most significant and splendid, though least known, chapter in the history of the Brno castle. After Jošt’s death, under the last Luxembourg King Sigismund of Hungary, Rome, and later also the Czech lands, and under his son-in-law Albrecht of Austria, to whom Sigismund in 1423 advanced both the rule of Moravia and the castle, Špilberk lost its residential function for good, and its military potential came to the fore. This demonstrated itself fully not only in the course of the Hussite wars, but especially during the struggles between Czech King Jiří of Poděbrady and Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus. Jiří’s son, Viktorin of Poděbrady, had his seat at Špilberk as the land „captain“ (hetman), also mentioned in historical sources as the „hetman at Špilmberk“. In 1469, Matthias Corvinus, supported by the town of Brno, managed, after several months of siege, to force the exhausted Czech garrison at Špilberk to surrender on honest conditions, thus acquiring this important strategic point and subsequently the rule of Moravia too. After the end of the 15th century, the importance of Špilberk fell into rapid eclipse, to be replaced with general decline and steady dilapidation. This major royal castle in Moravia was repeatedly surrendered as security for loans, and the temporary owners cared little for its maintenance. However, the Moravian Estates were well aware of the castle’s sigruficance to both the Moravian land and its capital, observing in 1543 that „through the loss of this chateau, much evil could occur to the Czech kingdom and the Moravian land, and the town of Brno in particular would come to ruin.“ They therefore purchased Špilberk (the „margravial seat“) themselves in 1560, together with the whole demesne, to prevent its intended sale to a foreign buyer, and then promptly sold the castle to the town of Brno. Špilberk remained town property for only sixty years. After the decisive Battle of the White Mountain, in which the rebellion of the Moravian Estates was put down in 1620, it was confiscated by Emperor Ferdinand II and its property reclaimed to the crown. The castle started to deteriorate again during the Thirty Years’ War, and its relatively negligible garrison of about 40 men hardly testified to the fact that Špilberk might ever again play an important military role either. However, the situation changed with the partial military occupation of Moravia by the Swedish army, which twice closely threatened the Moravian metropolis, in 1643 and 1645. The fortifications of the castle and the town were speedily restored and improved. The strategic significance of the castle was demonstrated once again when, in 1645, Brno

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and Špilberk, led by Commander Raduit de Souches, withstood a three-month siege against considerable Swedish odds. It was then gradually – until the mid-l8th century – converted into the most massive and most important baroque fortress in Moravia, making up, as a citadel, a single fortified unit with the equally fortified town. In 1742, it proved to be an impassable obstacle to Prussian King Fridrich II. The military commanders of Špilberk at the time also held the position of Moravian marshals.

A prison had always constituted part of the Špilberk fortress. Shortly after the defeat of the Uprising of the Estates in 1620, the leading Moravian members of this anti-Habsburg „insurrection“ were imprisoned in Špilberk for several years. From the last quarter of the 17th century to the early 1780′s, several high-ranking military personalities were held there, including leading Austrian commanders Bonneval and Wallis and the infamous Franz Trenck, colonel of the Pandours, who died at Špilberk in 1749, as well as dozens of „ordinary“ prisoners sentenced to fortification work. In 1783, Emperor Joseph II decided that Špilberk should no longer function as a fortress prison and that it should be converted into a civil prison intended for the most hardened criminals. For this purpose, the casemates, parts of the fortress system that had hitherto been insufficiently used, were reconstructed. Their mass cells could hold as many as 200 prisoners, condemned to hard labour within the fortress as well as outside. However, from the mid-1790′s, prisoners who could be labelled „political“ started to appear in the above-ground premises of the Špilberk fortress. Apart from several significant French revolutionaries captured during the coalition wars with France (the most famous being the former postmaster Jean B. Drouet), a group of fifteen Hungarian Jacobins led by the writer Ferenc Kazinczy was especially noteworthy. More than a quarter of a century later (from 1822), specially constructed cells for „state prisoners“ in the northern wing of the former fortress were filled with the Italian patriots who had fought for the unification, freedom and independence of their country. The poet Silvio Pellico, who served a full eight years there, made the Špilberk prison famous all over Europe with his book „My Gaols“.

At this time, Špilberk ceased to be an important military fortress, remaining only a large civil prison through the imperial period. This change was especially facilitated by Napoleon’s French army which, on its departure from occupied Brno in autumn 1809, destroyed essential parts of the Špilberk fortifications. The last large „national“ group of

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political prisoners at Špilberk consisted of nearly 200 Polish revolutionaries, mostly participants in the Cracow uprising of 1846. In 1855, Emperor Franz Joseph I dissolved the Špilberk prison, and after the departure of the last prisoners three years later, its premises were converted into barracks, which they remained for the next hundred years.

Špilberk entered public consciousness as a centre of tribulation and oppression on two more occasions: for the first time, during the First World War when, together with military prisoners, civilian objectors to the Austro-Hungarian regime were imprisoned there; and for the second time – far worse – in the first year of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Several thousand Czech patriots suffered in Špilberk at that time, some of whom were put to deaths there. For the majority of them, however, Špilberk was only a station on their way to other German prisons and concentration camps. In 1939-41, the German army and Gestapo carried out extensive reconstruction at Špilberk in order to turn it into a model barracks in the spirit of the romantic historicism so beloved of German third reich ideology. The Czechoslovak army left Špilberk in 1959, which marked a defirute end to its military era. The following year, Špilberk became the seat of the Brno City Museum.The architectural development of Špilberk can be viewed in direct relation to its changing functions. There were several distinct phases. Only relatively little is left of the original Gothic castle of the 13th-15th century (basically only in the eastern wing), apart from its fundamental character. Among the parts that have best preserved the nearly authentic appearance are some of the ground floor spaces, including the passageway with ornamented stone benches. Two of these spaces include the original ribbed vaults; there is also a remarkable, small, single-storey portal that once connected the gallery with the „royal“ chapel. However, the present distinctly „Gothic“ appearance of the whole eastern wing is a result of a rather problematic and controversial reconstruction, executed – after extensive construction and historical research – in 1995-2000 and designed by Zdeněk Chudárek. Furthermore, the substantial raising of the whole wing, including the mighty roof complex, has also considerably changed the existing skyline of the Brno dominant. On the ground floor of the western wing, archaeologists have revealed part of the foundations of a massive cylindrical tower, which visitors can see at the exhibition on the architectural development of the castle.

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The baroque fortress reconstruction, supervised by leading military engineers N. Peroni, L. Rochet and P. Rochepin, as well as by the Brno builder M. Grimm, is now particularly obvious from the largely preserved internal fortification system: ramparts with bastions and ravelins, brick moats with in-built casemates from 1742 and single-storey barracks buildings and other constructions, added to the external wall of the medieval castle throughout its perimeter around the mid-18th century. Another part of the fortification system was a well in the western section of the courtyard, deepened from the original 40 m to 114 m in 1714-1717, together with an adjoining cistern. The majority of the present buildings – the southern, western and northern wings, as well as the central tract dividing the former large courtyard into two sections – only came into existence with the extensive conversion of the fortress into a prison in the 1830′s. Unfortunately, this radical reconstruction wiped out practically all that remained of the original medieval castle and its later building projects, with the exception of the eastern wing. Špilberk thus acquired its present appearance, which even the relatively extensive reconstruction executed by the German army was not able to alter. Apart from minor additions and complements, they basically unified the castle in a certain architectural manner, and only demonstrated their identity clearly in the interiors (staircase) and historicist details. It was the latest reconstruction in 1995-2000, particularly involving the eastern wing, that substantially interfered with the appearance of Špilberk, so well-known from large numbers of engravings, paintings and old photographs.

At the turn of the second and third millennium, a crucial part of the reconstruction of the castle itself is being brought to a close. In parallel, the Brno City Museum is celebrating 40 years of its location in Špilberk; with new permanent exhibitions as well as occasional displays, it is making the historical and cultural heritage of the city, preserved in the museum collections, accessible to the public. In the summer season, the castle courtyards and other premises come alive with various cultural events, concerts, theatre performances and historical shows, as well as sports competitions. Over 100,000 people visit the museum exhibitions annually, including the casemates. Furthermore, the lookout gallery of the corner tower provides a unique view of Brno and its surroundings. The most important historical monument in the city thus becomes a lively cultural centre, attracting thousands of tourists.

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Brno Proposed Budget

Activity Cost Page

Train 25 Eros approx. $35.50 17

Hotel Information Brno

112 Euro’s approx. $159.00

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Prague Public Transportation

200 CZK/ 3 day, $10.50 Can

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Breakfast $20/day X 2 days =$40 19 Lunch $25/day X 2 days =$50 19

Dinner $35/day X 2 days= $70 19

Attraction 1 Free 21 Attraction 2 90CZK = $4.70 Can 22 Emergency funds $150 Total $519.70

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Travel Map