Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
numerous other corpses of unidentified victims, and is rather insensitively dominated by a
large Christian cross, plus a smaller Star of David.
Guides (some of whom are survivors of Terezín) can show you around, or else you can fol-
low the brief English-language self-guided walking tour. The infamous Nazi refrain
Arbeit
Macht Frei
(“Work Brings Freedom”) is daubed across the entrance on the left, which leads
to the exemplary washrooms, still looking as they did when built for the Red Cross tour of
inspection. The rest of the camp has been left empty but intact, and graphically evokes the
crampedconditionsunderwhichtheprisonerswerekept,half-starvedandbadlyclothed,sub-
jecttoindiscriminatecrueltyandexecution.Themain
exhibition
ishousedintheSSbarracks
opposite the luxurious home of the camp
Kommandant
and his family. A short documentary,
intelligible in any language, is regularly shown in the cinema that was set up in 1942 to en-
tertain the SS guards.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: TEREZÍN
By train
Trains from Prague call at Bohušovice nad Ohří (on the main Prague-Děčín line),
2km south of the fortress (hourly; 1hr).
By bus
Buses for Terezín leave from Nádraží Holešovice (up to every 30min; 50min).
EATING
the only decent place to eat in town, serving standard Czech food. The cheap lunch menu
is a superb deal and no main course costs more than 140Kč.
Mon-Fri 9.30am-9pm, Sat
11am-10pm, Sun 11am-6pm.
Kutná Hora
Thanks to the once rich silver deposits that run through the area, for around 250 years
KUTNÁHORA
(Kuttenberg)wasoneofthemostimportanttownsinBohemia,secondonly
to Prague. At the end of the fourteenth century its population was equal to that of London, its
shanty-town suburbs sprawled across what are now green fields, and its ambitious building
projects set out to rival those of the capital itself. It's all a bit hard to imagine these days as
you wander this small provincial town, with a population of just over 20,000, but the monu-
mentsdottedaroundit,itssuperbGothiccathedralandtheremarkablemonasteryandossuary
in the suburb of
Sedlec
, add up to make it one of the most enjoyable day-trip destinations
from Prague.
