City walk / Sights of Písek
The Otava River has always been known for its goldbearing sands. A gold panning settlement was established along the river and over the centureis it has developed into the Royal Town of Písek. The existence of the town is first recorded in the Charter of 1243 issued by King Wenceslas I. His son, King Přemysl Otakar II, paid special attention to the construction of Písek in order to secure the Premyslide power in Southern Bohemia. Shortly, a fortress as well as a town with a parish church and Dominican monastery was constructed and a new stone bridge made it possible to cross the river. The bridge may have been constructed before 1300 and it is the oldest bridge in Bohemia to date.
On the left shore across the bridge, one will find the Pražské Předměstí Suburb. The waterfront is lined with new constructions - a housing complex with a number of shops and a movie theatre and an exhibition hall hidden behind it. This part of the town was named Portyč by some local well travelled soldiers who felt that the little houses of poor inhabitants built all the way into the river reminded them of the little town of Portici near Neapol.
The street adjoining the bridge is called Národní Svobody Avenue. At one of its ends, there is an Agricultural College facing a Primary School in front of which there is a monument dedicated to the American Army that liberated the town in 1945. The area behind the school is known as the Exhibition Grounds. In the first third of the 20th century, largescale economic exhibitions were held here and an open-air cinema, a Police station and a winter stadium are located here today. Adjoining these grounds is a wall of a former Cemetery with the Holy Trinity Church which mainly serves as a concert hall.
Above the farm school, behind an overpass, a road to the right
leads to the Jewish Cemetery.
Straight away a Forestry College can be found, and proceeding
further in the Strakonice direction, we pass St. Wenceslas
Church. According to historical sources, it was here that
the original gold panning settlement, the ancestor of the
contemporary town, was located. The presentday appearance of the
church dates back to the turn of the 18th century. Suspended in the
steeple is the oldest bell of Písek, called Cornellius, cast in
1546. In 1935, a swimming pool was opened in this
part of the town along the river.
Running along the river back to the downtown is a path passing
sports facilities. A steel footbridge over an island, on
which a replica of the original 1890´s restaurant can be found,
bridges the Otava River. From the island´s tip, a
waterpower station, representing the oldest plant
of this kind in Bohemia, can be seen. At the same time a small
museum of
engineering was set there.
The point where one of the three gates, the Putimská Gate, used to be erected leads us into the town again. The gate was torn down a long time ago, the only preserved items including bulwark that used to protect the Gate and the House At the Balls that used to stand right next to the Gate. Once we turn to the street called Drlíčov, we will pass several ancient houses and eventually we will get to the western frontage of the deanery church. Behind the deanery building there is a lion monument. Within it's sight the former Dvořáček Hotel is located. The Budějovická St. would take us from here along the Chapel of the Virgin Mary from 18th century to the famous Provincial Stud-Farm of Písek.
Opposite the hotel, a former Secondary School and, down the street, a former Grammar School of Písek are found. Both schools had provided education to a large number of men and women many of which found their place in society and used their knowledge to serve the entire nation, very much in the spirit of the Písek scholastic tradition.
A broad street, once preferred by many as a modern boulevard, comes to a close near the post office building. Rising from here and away from the downtown is Žižkova Street with many neo-Renaissance buildings. It opens into the Mírové Náměstí Square in the middle of which a Legionary Monument by sculptor Antonín Bílek is found. In 1933, the inhabitants of Písek established for themselves and their descendants a Forest Cemetery high on a slope by the road to Tábor. The original architectural design comes from Dr. Antonín Ausobský. The parts of the town called Logry and America are ideal to start a trip into the Písecké Mountains.
We are brought from the Palackého Park right into the heart of the town through a precinct commonly called "a tunnel", passing the restaurant At Reiners established in 1844. We get to the Havlíčkovo Square, formerly called Floriánské Square after the central Baroque statue. Here and also in many other street of the town centre beautiful house signs can be found. The Alšovo Square may once have been the main square of the medieval town. Amidst the square, there is a plague statuary. The square is dominated by a former primary school building with a beautiful frontage. About as interesting is the former Civic Loan Bank palace, now serving as an outpatient clinic.
It is the Jungmannova Street that connects the Alšovo Náměstí and Velké Náměstí Squares. In the southwestern corner of the Velké Náměstí Square, a monastery Church of the Elevation of Holy Cross is located. An ornamental character of the square is particularly represented by the Town Hall, the passage in it leads us to the court of a former royal castle in which remainders today, the Prácheň Museum is placed.
Short walk round Písek
The Coat-of-Arms of Písek
History of the town Písek
About Písek on Czech Radio 7, Radio Prague:
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The royal town of Písek, 2007
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Water under the bridge: Písek native remembers the heavy floods, 2004
File date: 10.9.2008
