Zachariáš of Hradec Square by Jirí Valeš -Telc, Czech Republic
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ToRo61
N 49° 11.042 E 015° 27.253
33U E 533100 N 5448013
Zachariáš of Hradec Square by Jirí Valeš
Waymark Code: WM19Z1D
Location: Kraj Vysočina, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/15/2024
Views: 1
Telc is located in the southwest corner of Moravia, halfway between Prague and Vienna. According to legend, the founding of the city is associated with the victory of Moravian Prince Otto II over Czech Prince Bretislav in 1099. It was the victorious prince who contributed to the establishment of a chapel, later a church, and a settlement, which is now known as Staré Mesto (Old Town).
The original "wooden" Telc was prone to fires, with the largest one occurring in 1530 when an entire side of the square, including the town hall, was reduced to ashes. After the fire, individual repairs to houses took place, but they all tended towards similar single-story buildings with decorated facades. The unifying element was the arcade, sometimes Renaissance and in other cases, later Baroque.
In the 16th century, Zachariáš of Hradec invited Italian architects to Telc to transform his Gothic residence into a representative chateau. Renaissance modifications also extended to the bourgeois houses on the square (
visit link) . Arcades and gables were added to them according to a unified plan. Some of the houses have retained their original appearance, but most of them bear the imprint of later Baroque modifications. Since 1992, both the square and the chateau have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites (
visit link) .
Jirí Valeš (*1957) drawer, painter, photographer, studied at the Art Conservatory in Prague and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He depicts portraits, realistic landscapes, the city at night, centres of historical Czech and European cities, figural compositions