A short visit to Světla nad Sázavou, with its impressive chateau and park: 2 km
- Světla nad Sázavou is an historic town dating back to the early 13th century, located on the upper reaches of the river Sázava in the Vysočina region. The town is worth a visit to see its impressive Neo-Renaissance chateau, which is now privately owned, but (unusually) is fully open to the public throughout the year – even on Mondays! There is also a large and shady English park adjacent to the chateau, dating back to 1871.
- In the early 18th century, Světla joined other Vysočina towns in developing a glass-making industry, due to the availability of significant amounts of timber and sources of pure quartz in the surrounding hills. Local glass works today remain important employers in the region, including in a plant owned in Světla by Crystal Bohemia, the largest Czech glass maker. The glass-making tradition is reflected in an exhibition of European glass-making in the chateau (and the colorful exhibits in the courtyard)!
- Apart from the chateau and park area, it is worthwhile strolling into the main square to see the bea ce and Baroque styles. The crypt contains the family tombs of the Trčkové z Lípy noble house – which owned the Světla estate for nearly 200 years. The Trčkové family was one of the wealthiest in the country in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The history of this noble house is fascinating.
- A walk around the chateau area, the park and the main square will be little more than 2 km in length and can be managed with a stroller. For refreshments, there is a pleasant café-restaurant in the chateau courtyard and on the main square the modern café Trafika. Both are worth stopping at.
Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.
Directions
- If travelling by train, the main square is 1 km from the station, heading along the YELLOW trail
- From the main square, cross the river using the road bridge to get to the chateau and park area
- To get back to the station the shortest option is to follow the RED trail and take the footbridge over the Sázava as marked in the map above
