MORAVSKY KRUMLOV - Prague and the Czech Republic - page 239

in the country, after Loreta Church in Prague (see page 102). Just
inside the door, you can trace the lineage of local archbishops back
68 men, from today's archbishop to St. Methodius in 869.
s Archdiocesan Museum —Opened in 2006, this is the pride
and joy of Olomouc. After his 1995 visit, Pope John Paul II asked
the city to build this museum. The mission of this state-of-the-art
museum is “In Glory and Praise—To Share a Thousand Years of
Spiritual Culture in Moravia”...and it does just that.
This former royal castle, once the king's principal Moravian
residence, later became home to Olomouc's archbishop. The exte-
rior is a mix of Romanesque and Gothic elements. Inside, you'll
wander among some of the finest medieval art in Eastern Europe
(all well-described in English). The centerpiece of the treasury is a
monstrance with 1,800 diamonds and seven pounds of pure gold
(from 1750). The bishop's gilded coach understandably gave the
Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa more reason for envy.
Then, with slippers to protect the not-so-hardwood floor, you
shuffle through the staterooms lined with well-lit paintings. Don't
miss the painting depicting the ceremonial arrival of the new arch-
bishop in Olomouc in the mid-1700s. Survey the town: Except for
the McDonald's, it's all there. See how the artist, playing with
perspective a bit, shows the gate on the left dividing the royal town
from the bishop's town. This day was a good one for the bishop, as
the secular royal town is filled with Christian pageantry (50 Kč,
free on Wed and Sun, open Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon,
Václavské Náměstí 3, same ticket also gets you into the Museum of
Art at Denisova 47).
SlEEPING
$$$ Hotel Arigone, filling three tastefully renovated townhouses,
is on the hill by St. Michael's Church. While some of the 40 rooms
have 17th-century wooden ceilings and 19th-century-style furni-
ture, most are furnished in a modern style and are accessible by
elevator (Sb-1,900 Kč, Db-2,200 Kč, Internet access, Univerzitní
20, tel. [phone], fax [phone], www.arigone.cz, hotel
@arigone.cz).
$$$ Hotel u Dómu, a six-room place on a quiet street
next to the cathedral, is run with a personal touch that makes it
popular with quirky visiting professors (Sb-1,400 Kč, Db-2,000
Kč, Tb-2,400 Kč, pay Internet, free parking, Dómská 4, tel. 585-
220-502, fax [phone], www.udomu.3dpano.eu, hoteludomu
@email.cz).
$$$ Pension Antica, in a Baroque house filled with antique
furniture and Oriental rugs, is a mixture of friendliness and taste-
ful opulence, courtesy of caring owner Miroslava (Db-2,000 Kč,