Welcome to the official tourism website for Olomouc.
QUICK TIPS:
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 Fortress
Olomoucká pevnost
Several fortification objects have been preserved until now and are available to the public. Popular is for example the Crown Fortress in the city centre where a Museum of Olomouc Fortress is being built and which is an interesting venue for cultural events.
You can find more information about Olomouc fortress at www.cisarska-pevnost.cz.
Olomouc, once capital of Moravia, was already fulfilling the important function of a fortified centre of Moravia in the Middle Ages. Only fragments of the medieval fortifications of the former royal city of Olomouc have been preserved to the present day. Remnants of the medieval walls can be admired by visitors in the Bezruč Park, where there is one of the preserved gateways to the city, the so-called Jewish Gate.
Olomouc fortifications were in very poor condition at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1642, during the Thirty Years War, Olomouc was conquered by the Swedes, who immediately began to repair the original fortifications. They built bastions, the most modern fortification elements of those days, in front of the most vulnerable parts of the walls – the gates.
In 1655 Olomouc was declared a fortress town. A baroque fortress was gradually raised and its construction was completed by the so-called Theresian fortifications erected between the years 1742-1756. Olomouc became one of the largest and most sophisticated star forts not only in Bohemia, but also throughout the Habsburg monarchy. The fortress was tested in a crucible soon after its completion, when it withstood a five-week siege by Prussian troops in 1758. During a city tour, admirers of military monuments shouldn’t miss the unique Theresian gate dating from 1752-1753, whose architectural design is based on the ancient Roman triumphal arch. It is the only preserved fortress gate still standing on its original location. The monumental Theresian Armoury, a typical example of Theresian military architecture, is worth seeing as well.
But even the construction of a baroque fort did not put an end to the fortification story of the city. By the middle of the 19th century bastion walls of the town center were completed by a crown of advanced forts (e.g. Fort Křelov), which moved the main defense line further into the foreland. During the 19th century many such forts (e.g. Fort Radíkov) were built and Olomouc became a unique example of this kind of fortification in our country. City visitors can now visit the Fort No.XIII in Olomouc – Nová Street and Fort No.XVII in Olomouc - Křelov. However, because the walls hindered further development of the city, the fortification function of the city was abandoned by the end of the 19th century.
