Hradec Kralove
Hradec Kralove is the central town in the Eastern Czech Republic with a population of one hundred thousand. In the 9th century, at the confluence of the rivers Labe and Orlice there was a massive fortress, which served as an important link of the fortresses operating at the time of the first Premyslovice.
Medieval Hradec was the favorite town of Czech kings. During the 16th and 18th centuries the city was stricken by a lot of calamities (fires, plague outbreak, and above all, by wars).
Two long construction periods played a dominant role in forming the modern appearance of the city. First Hradec was rebuilt into a Baroque fortress during the reign of Joseph II (1741-1790).
100 hundred years of existence revealed the strategic weaknesses of the fortress and city authorities started to remove this formidable network of fortifications and build in its place a town, which from the second half of the 19th century expanded into an integrated urban unit with famous examples of Czech architecture (especially the first third of the 20th century).
Among the most famous buildings which belong to protected city cultural heritage are the Saint Spirit Cathedral (built in the 14th century and rebuilt in the Baroque period in the 19th century) and bishop’s residence of the middle 17th century. Other famous cultural heritage sites include the Marian plague sculpture, the Spulak house, and the Eastern Czech museum – a national cultural heritage – built by John Kotera from 1909 to 1912.