Kutna Hora

The bones of some forty thousand people were arranged into a chandelier and a coat of arms inside the chapel. A carpenter set it out in 1870, and the rules on photography have tightened recently.

Dedicated to the patron of miners, so its wall paintings show men cutting silver and striking coin. The roof reads as three tents joined in a row, which makes it recognisable from a distance.

In a white smock and helmet you walk 250m into a narrow shaft. One stretch matches the width of two shoulders, so larger visitors turn sideways.

The royal mint stood here, and the benches where coins were struck by hammer are still in place. A guide strikes one in the old manner while you watch.

A fifteenth century merchant dwelling whose front gable is carved from edge to edge. Inside, the household goods of the town's citizens are laid out by period.

Thirteen statues line the long terrace running toward the church. The valley and the river open below, and evening light stretches along the figures.

Behind the mint the slope holds a terraced garden that almost nobody uses. From a bench there the church roof and the river come into one view.

A noble house holds the mining displays, and the shaft tours set off from it. A timber hoist and a drainage wheel are rebuilt here at full size.

The road between the two churches bends along the hill past the old miners' houses. There is enough slope that walking it downhill is the easier direction.

A baroque column raised in thanks after the epidemic of 1713 passed. Reliefs around its base show scenes from the time of the outbreak.

Cathedral on the site of Bohemia's first Cistercian monastery, founded in 1142. Burned in the Hussite wars, it was revived by Santini, who blended Baroque into the Gothic frame. A short walk links it to the ossuary, and one joint ticket admits you to both.

A twelve-sided Gothic fountain carved in the late 1400s, its basin ringed by stone carved fine as lace. Mines drained the groundwater and left wells dry, so this served the town as a water store. It holds no water now and survives as ornament.

The oldest church left in the centre, a Gothic building begun in the 14th century beside the Italian Court. Its tall bell tower rises over the rooftops and shows from far off. From the slope in front, the red roofs below make the classic photo.

The Central Bohemian regional gallery, set in the Jesuit College, with rotating shows of modern and contemporary Czech art. Its Baroque corridors and lofty rooms are worth the entry alone. St Barbara's stands just outside, an easy pairing.

An Empire mansion the Chotek family built from 1802 onward, with long colonnaded wings to either side. The Museum of the Czech Countryside inside shows old farm tools and carriages. A broad English park surrounds it, a short drive from town.

A castle that was reworked during the 19th century in Romantic neo-Gothic, its towers and battlements straight from a storybook. Tours pass rooms hung with weapons and hunting trophies. A fenced game park nearby keeps a herd of white deer.