Litoměřice

Introducing Litoměřice

Visiting Terezín demands an emotional release, and Litoměřice is the perfect balance with its pretty square etched in pastel shades and the baroque structures of local 18th-century architect Ottavio Broggio. The horrors of Terezín are only a few kilometres south, but Litoměřice’s town square seems like another world.

The history of the town has not always been so benign. The once boldly Hussite town was levelled in the Thirty Years’ War, and in 1945 the predominantly German-speaking populace was forcibly expelled. Unlike Terezín, which feels anchored by its tragic past, Litoměřice is a vivacious combo of old-school architecture and a youthful 21st-century outlook; belying its establishment as an ecclesiastical centre almost a millennium ago in 1057. The town’s lively cafés and restaurants showcase vibrant after-hours action, and there’s even a bar, Music Club Viva, in the old town bastion – somewhere most Czech towns would fill with a stuffy museum.

Last updated: Sep 25, 2008