A short walk around the walls of the 18th century Habsburg fortress of Josefov: 4 km
- Two completely new massive fortresses (Terezín and Josefov) were built in Bohemia at the end of the 18th century by the Habsburg rulers to protect against the growing power of Prussia to the north of Bohemia. The fortress at the Hradec Králové was also completely reconstructed in a similar style at the same time. Over the subsequent decades, none of the fortresses were actually besieged by the Prussians (or other enemies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) leading to claims that the new fortresses were a waste of money. However, the presence of the powerful fortresses arguably ensured that the Prussians never captured Prague during the wars of the 19th century.
- Of the two new fortresses, Terezín attracts more visitors (partly due to its infamous role in WWII), but Josefov is still worth a visit, particularly for those interested in recent military history. Both Terezín and Josefov have well-prepared educational trails that circle the fortifications (the Josefov boards are only in Czech). The map below shows the route of the Josefov trail which is a little under 4 km long, and broadly follows the contours of the outer bastion artillery emplacements.
- The trail follows an attractive footpath offering some good views of the surrounding countryside. It is essentially flat. Most visitors to Josefov will probably drive and park in one of the free areas near the western gate (where the educational trail begins). If travelling by public transport there are buses to Josefov from Hradec Králové.
- Near the parking areas, there is a room housing a large model of the fortress as it looked in the middle of the 19th century (map point 2). It is worth a look to understand the scale of the fortress, before (or after) undertaking the rampart walk. For refreshments, try the café in the town museum (map point 3).
Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file
Directions
- From the western entrance of the fortress, follow the trail (marked with green-white triangle nature trail markers) clockwise. The trail leads back to the start point after 3.5 km
