Olomouc, CZ

Dolni Namesti actually has more to see in it than the main square, if you know where to look.

This was my third shot of Dolni Namesti, with the tower of the radnice visible in the background.

The Holy Trinity Column was constructed in 1716-1754 to commemorate a plague in 1714-1716. It is considered the largest Baroque sculpture in the Czech Republic, and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

This was another shot I took of the alleyway from earlier, taken after walking through the doorway, showing the buttresses.

I shot this photo, as did several other people, just because we thought it looked pretty cool.

This is another "It looked pretty cool" shot, although I've forgotten which street this was.

Here's another of the Olomouc transit authority's Tatra T3's, this one making a stop at the city museum on Denisova. You can see the Katedral sv. Vaclava (Cathedral of St. Wenceslas) down the street.

We also visited the cathedral while we were in Olomouc, and the highlight of this was a demonstration of the late-19th Century electric pipe organ (with the original knob and tube wiring). Many people disliked the ornamentation of buildings, churches, organs, and so on during the 19th Century, but in hindsight industrial-era engineering combined with pre-industrial taste produced a much better result, I think, than anything has since.

Here's a shot from the pews. As is often the case, with well-designed organs, this one is designed to fit the much-older Cathredral building, which dates to 1131, making it so old that it is not considered gothic, but romanesque. The most famous historical anecdote associated with this Cathedral is that Mozart composed his 6th symphony here, at the age of 11.

I took this when the sun finally came out, although I don't know which tram stop this was. Does anybody know?

This isn't the train station for Olomouc, but rather a large office building used by Ceske Drahy, the Czech national railway. I'm not clear on whether this is the headquarters, or simply a very important office building, though.

See if you can spot the bee without using the notes? :-)

I took a photo of the Aeroplane Bar the last time I was in Olomouc as well, but I couldn't resist trying it again. Unfortunately, unless you only want part of the plane, or some kind of abstraction, this is one of the only angles which works because of the trees blocking the view.

The full name of this basilica is the "Basilica Minor of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary," which is such a long name that it's rarely used. Dating to 1669, this basilica was one of the places Pope John Paul II visited in 1995.

This is a more common angle on the basilica, showing the twin clock towers.

The Bazilika Minor na sv. Kopecku (Basilica Minor on St. Kopecek) was built in 1669-1679, and designed by Giovanniho Pietra Tencalla, although an older church had existed on this site as early as 1078. More recently, this Basilica was a stop on Pope John Paul II's tour of the Czech Republic in 1995.

Sv. Kopecek refers to the hill on which the Basilica is built. It isn't a very tall hill, but it still gives visitors a good view of the surrounding countryside, which is mostly flat.

The Basilica also has a courtyard, albeit one without a garden, and in it are several statues in varying states of repair.