In Budějovice
Katedrála sv. Mikuláše
On foot 14 min · By car 9 min
The church has stood on this spot since Budějovice was founded in 1265. After the great fire, Italian builders reshaped it into today's Baroque form. Inside are also the relics of St Auratius, patron of the town, brought here from the Roman catacombs in 1644.
It is the main church of the South Bohemian diocese, two minutes from the square, and Černá věž next to it is its belfry. The site is older than the town: under the presbytery archaeologists found graves from before its founding. Of the patron Auracián almost nothing is known — not even who he really was. Entry is free, a visit takes twenty minutes, and in hot weather it is pleasantly cool inside.
Practical details
- On foot 14 min · By car 9 min
On site
The interior is Baroque, not Gothic — of the medieval church, only the charred walls of the presbytery survived the fire of 1641. The church has no large tower of its own, only a small sanctus turret; its bells ring from the Černá věž, which stands separately beside it. The relics of St Auratius are in a niche on the left south side of the baptistery.