Telč

The town has been established approximately at the turn of 12th and 13th century at the place of ancient Slavonic settlement close to a ford over the Telcsky stream. In the middle of 1350s it has been elevated to a town. Telc was not able to do without changes in urbanism at that time, the old square didn’t fit to the new suzerains. They started to build a Gothic castle at the north corner of municipal build-up area. But the biggest impulse became together with Zacharias from Hradec (1527-1589) who radically rebuilt and enlarged his chateau possession. It became the most precious Renaissance jewel in Czech Republic. The effort to preserve this monument and help tourism turned into the main priority in Telc. Telc has been inserted in the List of World heritage UNESCO. Three years later the chateau was promoted to a national cultural monument. The Telc centre “Stare mesto”, a unique complex of folklore architecture from the turn of 18th and 19th century with the Baroque church of ST. Matka Bozi, a hospital and the chapel of St. Roch, became a monument zone as well at the same year. The Telc museum was established already in 1897 and is one of the eldest in the southwest Moravia. Museum is based in the southwest wing of the chateau. The permanent exposition of “Life and work in Telc region” presents briefly the Telc history and surroundings from the early Middle Ages till now. The 3-D model of Telc from 1893 enables to compare the ancient shape with today’s appearance. However the dominant of the Telc museum is the movable Bethlehem by Mr. and Mrs. Vostry from the middle of 19th century.