In Budějovice
Černá věž
On foot 14 min · By car 9 min
The best view over Budějovice is from the gallery of the Černá věž. Two hundred and twenty-five steps lead up, past six bells. The largest weighs three and a half tonnes and was cast, among other reasons, to protect the town from lightning, flood and war.
Černá věž is a seventy-two-metre Renaissance belfry right beside the cathedral, a minute from the square, and its gallery is at forty-six metres: in good visibility you can see Kleť, Hluboká and Temelín from there. The town built it mainly to show off — it cost as much as fifteen of the best houses on the square — and until 1950 a tower keeper lived in it, watching the town for fires. It is open from April to October.
Practical details
- On foot 14 min · By car 9 min
- Opening hours: sezónní: duben–říjen. V červenci a srpnu denně, jinak mimo pondělí, zhruba 10:00–18:00
On site
The tower is 72.29 metres high and the viewing gallery sits at 46 metres. On the way up you pass the bell floor — there are six bells, each described. From the gallery you see the square from above, the whole old town and, on a clear day, the Vodárenská věž on the right bank of the Vltava and Hluboká to the north.