In 60 seconds
During the 14th century, Kutná Hora's deep silver deposits made it the financial engine of the Kingdom of Bohemia and a wealthy rival to Prague. Deep subterranean shafts yielded the ore that was minted into the famous Prague Groschen at the Italian Court, funding royal ambitions and flamboyant architecture. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage town in Central Bohemia is celebrated worldwide for two contrasting Gothic masterworks: the soaring Cathedral of St Barbara, dedicated to the patron saint of miners with its distinctive three-peaked tent roofs and flying buttresses, and the eerie Sedlec Ossuary, a cemetery chapel adorned with the skeletal remains of over 40,000 people arranged into macabre chandeliers, chalices, and coats of arms.
Best for
Known for
Skip if
You are easily unnerved by human skeletal remains or narrow, pitch-black underground tunnels.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Kutná Hora fits them. Choose interests
See
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Flamboyant Gothic five-aisled cathedral with three tent-like spires built by medieval silver miners
Walk along the statue-lined terrace path before entering to inspect 15th-century frescoes depicting medieval mint workers and miners at work.
Underground cemetery chapel decorated with artistic arrangements of bones from over 40,000 individuals
Stand beneath a monumental central chandelier crafted from every bone in the human body, created in 1870 by woodcarver František Rint.
Fortified royal castle and central mint where Italian craftsmen struck the legendary Prague groschen
Tour the former royal council chamber and the historic minting workshops where the silver currency of Central Europe was born.
Eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Too few picks yet for their own heading, so they share this list.
Historic Bohemian tavern dedicated to the notorious 16th-century town nobleman Mikuláš Dačický
Feast on roast boar in rosehip sauce or Bohemian goulash washed down with craft beer in a timber-vaulted tavern garden.
Charming family restaurant with a summer garden tucked beneath the ancient town ramparts
Dine on crispy duck leg with red cabbage and potato pancakes under shady walnut trees along the ancient city walls.
Cosy Old Town café serving specialty coffee, homemade cakes and local Moravian fruit cordials
Relax in quiet wicker armchairs with a pour-over filter coffee and freshly baked poppyseed cake on a tranquil cobblestone corner.
Beyond the obvious
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Authentic medieval silver mine shaft tour wearing white miner's smock and miner's helmet with headlamp
Squeeze into narrow hand-chiselled stone tunnels 35 metres beneath the historic centre to experience the claustrophobic reality of 14th-century miners.
Elaborately carved 15th-century Late Gothic dodecagonal stone fountain on Rejskovo náměstí
Inspect the delicate stone traceries of this 12-sided reservoir, built in 1495 to bring fresh drinking water to a town drained by deep mines.
After dark
Cosy cellar taproom serving Kutná Hora lagers and unpasteurised Moravian craft beers
Pair a cold mug of Kutnohorská Stříbrná 11° lager with pickled sausages (utopenci) after an afternoon of sightseeing.
Practical
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
King Wenceslaus II issues the royal mining code Ius Regale Montanorum and founds the central royal mint at the Italian Court.
Hussite troops capture the Catholic town; subsequent religious warfare heavily damages the silver shafts and mining economy.
The historical town centre of Kutná Hora, St Barbara's Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec are inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List.
