Information Centre
Horní náměstí (Upper Square)
Town Hall's archway
779 11 Olomouc
Opening hours: daily 9:00am –7:00pm
Tel.: (+420) 585 513 385, 392
E-mail: infocentrum@olomouc.eu
Map
Olomouc region Card
Olomouc Region Card is a tourist discount card that allows you to visit Olomouc significant savings. Its purchase to make sure you completely discounted or free admission.
Olomouc and personalities
Art
Music
The work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the brilliant Austrian composer and pianist, is also connected with Olomouc. The eleven year-old Mozart composed Symphony No. 6 in F major during his stay in the Hauenschild’s Palace and later in the Cathedral's Deanery.
The famous Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler stayed in Olomouc in 1882. He worked briefly at the German public theater (now the Moravian Theatre) at the beginning of 1882. There is his bust reminiscent of this period placed in the theater lobby. Mahler stayed in a house near the theater called „The Golden Pike“ (now Café Destiny) on the Upper Square (Horní náměstí) in Olomouc.
Fine arts
Johann Christoph Handke (1694-1774) is an important painter of Moravian high Baroque period and the author of a unique autobiography. His work includes many paintings with religious and secular themes. In Olomouc, he decorated with paintings the Corpus Christi Chapel (part of Jesuit Convent), Minor Basilica on the Holy Hill and the Church of the Virgin Mary of the Snow.
The Czech graphic artist, painter and illustrator Karel Svolinský (1896-1986) was born in the Holy Hill near Olomouc. He was trained in wood carving and then graduated from Arts and Crafts School in Prague. Svolinský drew mainly from the national folk tradition and legacy of painters Josef Mánes and Mikoláš Aleš. His most famous Olomouc work is the mosaic decoration of the Astronomical Clock at the Town Hall.
The work of the sculptor Ivan Theimer (*1944), a native of Olomouc, is bound up with France, to where he emigrated in the fall of 1968, and also with the Italian Tuscany. In Olomouc you can admire his Arion Fountain, which completes the set of six Baroque fountains with mythical themes. In the summer, it is a favourite retreat for children and adults who like to refresh and relax here.
The internationally acclaimed native of Olomouc Otmar Oliva (*1952) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and lives in Velehrad, where he has his atelier with a foundry. Oliva‘s work can be found in the Olomouc Museum of Art. His admired fountain The Spring of Living Water of St. John Sarkander is placed next to the Chapel of St. John Sarkander on the Michael’s hill.
Literature and Film
Josef Dobrovský was a significant Czech philologist, historian and founder of Slavic studies in the Czech lands. He was born in Balassagyarmat near Raab in Hungary on August 17th 1753. In 1787 he obtained an appointment first as vice-rector, and then as rector, in the general seminary for the training of priests at Hradisko (now part of Olomouc). He performed his office well enough, but after the death of Joseph II. he lost his post through the abolition of the seminaries throughout the Habsburg Empire and returned to Prague.
Jiří Wolker (1900-1924) was one of the most talented and outstanding Czech poets belonging to the generation of the early twenties of the last century. He had a warm relationship to Olomouc. His grandparents lived on the Holy Hill where he used to spend summer holidays. A memorial plaque with a bust of the poet is placed at their house (called Wolker‘s villa) in the street of St. Krejčí.
Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972) was a significant film director, the son of Jewish parents, born in Olomouc in 1904. He worked in Vienna, Berlin and the USA, where he emigrated in 1929. Olomouc was not known as Ulmer‘s hometown for a long time. The director lived in Resslova street, house No. 1, where a memorial plaque has been placed since 2006.
The German writer Peter Härtling (* 1933) spent his childhood in Hartmannsdorf at Chemnitz, where his father maintained a law firm. In order to avoid danger of the Nazi regime the family moved to Olomouc in 1942. He dedicated the book Nachgetragene Liebe to Olomouc. It is the internationally most widespread book related to the city of Olomouc.
Architecture
Lubomír Šlapeta (1908-1983) was a Czech architect. He worked along with his twin brother Čestmír Šlapeta in Ostrava and Olomouc, where they produced a number of buildings, excellent examples of functionalist architecture. There are ten such works only in Olomouc, e.g. the Nakládal‘s villa is to be seen in the Polívkova street No. 35, the Kousalík’s villa in the street Na Vozovce No.33.
