Tiny folk village with a charm that leads to modern urban planning system - Holašovice Historic Village 861
What and Why
This small farmstead community of Holašovice is a perfect representation of the traditional villages that used to dot the countryside of Central Europe. These housing estates became the main blueprint of housing development and urban planning that spread across Europe since the 18th century CE, in so doing created an unique architecture movement, called Village Barocco (Czech: Selské Baroko).
Holašovice is a typical Bohemian village consisting of 23 brick farmyards and 120 buildings, each with their gable end facing a central broad village green, with a fish pond and chapel, and has retained its shape till now with almost no changes since its construction. Apparently there are now 150 people living in the village. The village however dates back to the 13th century CE.
During the early 16th century CE, Holašovice was nearly wiped out by the bubonic plague, with only two of its inhabitants survived. A column erected over the plague grave at the north end of the village commemorates this event.
See
Village (Vesnice)
The town is extremely quiet. We hardly heard anything, except our own car engine. This place has almost nothing, there is no artificial attractions to cater to tourists like the usual tourist shops, cafes or restaurants. The 23 houses are all placed around a central square with a pond and a community building in the middle. Effectively, there is just one street in the rectangular village.
The stucco facades of these farmyards inspired countless houses that would be built in Central Europe. These are quite colourful and each comes with its own individual design. The typical houses usually have two large facades linked together by a large gate, with comparatively small windows to withstand the cold. This style is called South Bohemian Folk Baroque. It is said that these buildings were coloured so spectacularly to attract women from other villages!
There is a small chapel dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk (Jan Nepomucký, né Jan z Pomuku) at one end of the village.
Stonehenge
Nothing more than a farm decoration, Holašovicé Stonehenge (Jihočeský Stonehenge) is a rare tourist trap in the quiet city.
Eat and Drink
Budweiser beer (Pivo Budweiser)
Most visitors would have arrived from České Budějovice, and hence most should have tried the real Budweiser. The German form of České Budějovice is Budweis, and hence the beer's name. For this reason, this state-owned pale lager brewery, with nothing to do with its American 'counterpart' and has been engaged in a trademark dispute with Anheuser-Busch, the brewery in America, over the right to market and sell the beer under the name Budweiser since forever.
You can easily grab a bottle here and there in Czechia. After all the country ranks number one in beer consumption per capita, at a whopping 190 litres per year per capita. This translates to more than half a litre of beer for everyone daily, including babies! Stay sober.
Getting There and Around
You can take a bus from České Budějovice and the bus station is right at the town, but we drove. I would be surprised if you can spend more than two hours here, albeit it being very pleasant. Just stay quiet and keep the vibe.
UNESCO Inscription
Holašovice is an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a traditional central European village. It has a large number of outstanding 18th- and 19th-century vernacular buildings in a style known as 'South Bohemian folk Baroque', and preserves a ground plan dating from the Middle Ages.
References
Comments