The Stone House / Kamenný dum (Kutná Hora, Czech Republic)
N 49° 56.995 E 015° 15.922
33U E 519037 N 5533096
The Stone House (Kamenný dum) in Kutná Hora, one of the most beautiful and most valuable burgher houses in the Late Gothic style in Bohemia, was built as early as the pre-Hussite period - the original layout date back to the late 14th century.
Waymark Code: WM6B08
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/05/2009
Views: 155
The Stone House is one of the greatest gothic monuments in Bohemia. It is great not only thanks to its age, but also thanks to the fact that it bears signs of a lifestyle of that day´s man. It resembles one special characteristic of local people by its decoration and uniquity – strain between "lower" values and christian beliefs.
Originally the house was owned by a butcher family of Kroupa and stood on a town´s square. Some Martin married Kroupa´s daughter and took his father´s-in-law name. Probably he got rich by his enterpreneurship in mines and by the marriage he wanted to improve his position. He wanted to be succesfull and he had prepositions for it. For 30 years he worked as a high official and he had some private enterpreneurships besides his oficial work. However, he was not popular amongst local people and it is possible that he did not like them either. Once he made a typically Freud-like slip. When he tried to calm down miners during riots, he was persuading them and instead of saying "You know that barons do not wish you anything bad" he said "You know that barons wish you something bad" Reaction of miners was natural – "By bloody hell, we know it!"
Martin Kroupa, despite this ashaming incident, continued in his career progress and in 1499 he was given aristocratic title. He then had to decorate his house according to his new societal status. He ordered stone mason Briccí to do the work. The decoration of the house does not differ from a temple-like decoration. We may see a picture of the first sin and its redemption on the coat of arms. He wanted to present himself as a religious man, however this could have been true. In the interior we may see a private chapell, hidden from the public eyes, where Kroupa prayed. Maybe he prayed to Madonna to forgive his sins...
The house changed owners oftenly after Kroupa´s death and one had seriously damaged it in 1839. His name was Josef Krcan, he let Madonna be put away and then he put some senseless decorations on the walls. Restorers fortunately put the house to its former state and now we can see it how it looked in the past. Exposition showing you artistic crafts made since 15th century till 19th Century and insight to the medieval cuisine is awaitin you in the Stone House.
Visit Instructions:Logging requirements: Please upload your own personal photo of the building. You or your GPS can be in the picture, but it’s not a main requirement.
This category is focused only to original Gothic architecture, not to pseudo-Gothic, neo-Gothic or Gothic Revival. You can not find this kind of architecture outside of "Old World", moreover this architecture appeared in ca XIIth century (early Gothic) and the last buildings are from cca XVIth (late Gothic) century...