133PREMIER.CZ

The best place to start a cultural/sports biking expedition might actually be the city of Hradec Králové: take a ride from the Middle Ages, through the Baroque era, all the way to modern times, and explore a number of interesting locations on the way. The city itself offers such attractions as a giant freshwater aquarium with a water forest, a water amusement park with a water slide and artificial surf, and a remarkable technological monument, a hydro plant with a bridge over the River Elbe. Biking trips around the open countryside will ease your stress and help you relax. Be sure to include such destinations as the Romantic chateaux in Nechanice and Chlumec nad Cidlinou or the museum of nativity scenes in the town of Třebechovice pod Orebem, which also houses a popular water amusement park.

• Hradec Králové – one of the oldest cities in the Czech Republic with an urban monument preserve. A Gothic cathedral of the Holy Spirit; a Renaissance White Tower, 72 meters tall; a Baroque plague column, and the Bishop’s palace (both designed by J.B. Santini). A remarkable collection of Art Nouveau and functionalist buildings from the early 20th century (J. Gočár, J. Kotěra).
• Aquarium in Hradec Králové – a giant aquarium with an underground tunnel and a tropical footbridge in a rainforest; fish species from South and Central America; a model walk on the bottom of a tropical freshwater pool. Includes a café, video programs, and an aquarium fish shop.
• Hradec Králové Hydroelectric Power Plant – a technological monument; an Art Nouveau set of buildings, with a bridge across the Elbe, built in 1909-1912.
• Chateau Hrádek u Nechanic – a chateau built in the Windsor Gothic style in the mid-19th century, modeled after Crewe Hall in Cheshire, England. Surrounded by a vast English-style garden with a golf course.
• Chateau Karlova Koruna – a chateau in Chlumec and Cidlinou, designed by architect G. Santini. Its unique layout resembles a crown. Named after Emperor Charles VI who visited the chateau after his coronation. The chateau holds an exhibition on the history of the Kinsky family.
• Smiřice – a Baroque chateau chapel of the Epiphany, probably designed by Dienzenhofer or Santini. An extraordinarily preserved, stylistically pure and compact interior.
• Monument to the peasants’ uprising near Chlumec nad Cidlinou – a monument dedicated to the victims of the peasants’ uprising in 1775, a proverbial event in Czech history.
• Monument to the Battle of Chlum – on July 3, 1866, one of the greatest battles of the 19th century was fought northwest of Hradec Králové, known as the Battle of Chlum or the Battle of Sadová. The battle, which decided the outcome of the Prussian-Austrian War, is commemorated by a number of monuments and memorial crosses in the area.
• Třebechovice pod Orebem – a unique museum of nativity scenes from all over the country. The gem of the collection, the mechanical Probošt Nativity Scene, is the largest wooden nativity scene in the world (7 meters long, 3 meters wide, 2 meters tall, contains 351 figures), frequently shown at exhibitions all over the world.