Pictures from from a couple of locations in the Czech Republic while attending a conference in the charming town of Valtice.
The grounds of Lednice palace, previously owned (somewhat incongruously) by the dukes of Liechtenstein. Confiscated by Nazi Germany and then falling under the control of communist Czechoslovakia, demands for the restitution of the property to far-away aristocrats fell onto understandably deaf ears!
(L) View of the “minaret” folly in the park, and (R) view back towards the palace (top left) from the minaret.
Kutná Hora
(L) Reconstructed winding gear and (R) down in the medieval silver mines of Kutná Hora, east of Prague. A source of great wealth in the 13th to 16th C, the principal mines were flooded in the 16th C and the city fell into a long decline.
St Barbara’s church, with (bottom R) some preserved medieval frescoes showing coin minting.