Přemysl Otakar II Square

Přemysl Otakar II Square is the main square of Budějovice and its living room — an almost perfect square 133 by 133 metres with arcades all around and the largest fountain in Czechia in the middle. A short way from the fountain a stone with a cross is set in the paving which, according to old Budějovice locals, must not be stepped over after nine in the evening.

It is the second-largest square in Czechia, after Vysoké Mýto. Forty-eight houses line it, and their 14th-century arcades can be walked all the way round dry-shod even when it rains. Samson’s Fountain in the middle holds two hundred and thirty-seven cubic metres of water, and its stone basin was carved from a single piece of stone from the quarry at Besednice — it was so large that the Gothic Svinenská Gate had to be widened to move it.

On the south-western side stands the Baroque town hall. The carillon in its tower plays every full hour; in the ceremonial hall couples marry under a fresco with eighty-six figures; and fourteen bee colonies live on the town-hall roof.

The Wandering Stone

In the south-eastern part of the square, a short way from Samson’s Fountain, an oval stone about thirty centimetres across with a carved cross is set into the paving. According to the town chronicles an execution block once stood here — in 1478 (tourist texts sometimes say 1470, but 1478 is backed by two entries in the Encyclopaedia of České Budějovice — verified 14 Sep 2026) ten young men were beheaded at once. One of them had killed the town magistrate while being arrested, and because no one confessed who did it, they executed them all. Over the centuries the real event became a legend: anyone who unwittingly steps over the stone after nine in the evening loses their bearings and wanders the streets. In 2010 a group of vandals tried to dig it up — they were caught, and since then the stone has been securely concreted in place.

The town hall

The Baroque town hall on the south-west side of the square was built in 1727–1730 to a design by Anton Erhard Martinelli. The tower is just under 72 metres high, with 225 steps to the top. Interestingly, the clock on the tower is older than today’s Baroque building — it dates from 1606, from the previous structure on the same site. On the attic stand four statues of civic virtues — Wisdom, Prudence, Courage and Justice; today they are copies, the originals by sculptor Josef Dietrich kept inside the town hall. The decoration was not accidental: in the Baroque age it was a standard message to the town council — the statues looked down on the square and were meant to remind the councillors inside what values should guide the town’s administration and courts. Architecture as a moral memento for those who decide. Since 1995 a carillon of sixteen bells in the tower can play up to eighty melodies according to the time of day and season. On the south side of the tower is another detail locals know better by nickname — a small dial with a 60 cm sphere showing the moon’s phases, called Mondšajn.

Samson’s Fountain

The fountain in the middle of the square dates from 1721–1726 (building ran 1720–1727), designed by the Jindřichův Hradec Jesuit František Baugut, executed by sculptor Josef Dietrich and stonemason Zachariáš Horn. They took inspiration from the Lion Fountain in the second courtyard of Prague Castle. It ranks among the largest Baroque fountains in Central Europe — the stone basin is 17 metres across, and above it biblical Samson wrestles a lion from whose jaws water jets. In its day it was a technical marvel: under the fountain a shaft and tunnel carry piping to the mascarons on the sides and to the lion’s throat — water was once pumped straight from the Vltava via the Water Tower on the opposite bank; today a closed circuit runs. After 1990 the original statues were replaced with copies (by Ivan Tlášek) to protect them from the weather — the originals are stored indoors.

Why Samson: The choice of motif was not accidental — according to surviving sources the biblical strongman taming a lion was meant to express the strength and majesty of the town in its post-war, post-fire recovery. A message carved in stone: the town had lived through a devastating time and was strong again. (The real reason the fountain and waterworks were built at exactly this moment has a more concrete and interesting cause — see the Great Fire of České Budějovice (1641) section below.)

The square itself

The square covers 1.7 hectares and forms an almost perfect 133×133 metre square — the second-largest square square in Czechia after Vysoké Mýto. Around it stand 48 houses, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, linked by a continuous arcade that dates from the 14th century — you can walk dry-shod all the way around even when it rains.

On site

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