Local tips
Rudolfov — a mining town Budějovice destroyed and then inherited
By car 10 min
Today Rudolfov is a quiet little town minutes from Budějovice, but its past is different. Thanks to mining it was once among the largest towns in South Bohemia. It fell in 1619 and a year later the emperor gave it, with its mining privileges, to Budějovice.
In the sixteenth century Rudolfov ranked, alongside Kutná Hora and Jáchymov, among the most important mining towns in Bohemia, and silver from here was taken to the Budějovice mint. In the end Budějovice itself asked for its destruction. Today there is a Mining Museum in the house of the royal mining officer and a five-kilometre educational trail on the traces of the mines, free and year-round. City transport reaches here too.
Practical details
- By car 10 min
- Opening hours: muzeum St–Čt 9:00–15:30 · Pá 9:00–15:00 · So–Ne a svátky 11:00–17:00. Naučná stezka celoročně, zdarma
On site
The trail starts at the church of St Vitus and runs five kilometres past three ponds — Královský, Jarval and Mrhal — to Lustenek chateau. Thirteen panels cover mining from beginnings to decline, with period illustrations.
Most interesting is what you do not see at first glance. Traces of mining in the land are unobtrusive shapes you would pass without the panels — of the largest silver field in South Bohemia no landmark remains, only shaped terrain. The three ponds are worth note too: in mining country they are often for water power, not ornament. (A direct link between Rudolfov ponds and mining could not be confirmed from available sources — the trail panels should address it.)
Perkmistrovský dům has an exhibition on early mining in southern Bohemia, colonisation of Rudolfovsko, the peak of silver extraction and mining administration. For comparison: in Jihočeské muzeum (story) coins minted from silver brought from here lie in a case. There you see the result; here the place.
The route ends at a bus stop with the unusual name Na Americe. (The origin of that local name could not be traced. A question for the Mining Museum.)