Chotěboř: City History and the Doubrava Valley

Chotěboř was elevated to a royal town in 1331 after being granted Jihlava town rights.

History and Townscape

The urban heritage zone of Chotěboř primarily comprises an elongated street that widens in the middle into a regular rectangular square. The zone includes a cemetery and the Church of St James. A Romanesque chapel previously stood on the site of today’s Church of St James the Greater, its origins coinciding with the founding of the town. The shape of the square and the sequence of sacred sites offer two different ways of viewing the historic townscape: through the urban space and through its architectural and functional history.

Culture

The Chotěboř City Museum offers a permanent exhibition on the Doubrava Valley, geology and the history of the town; the visit takes 45 minutes. Chotěboř Baroque château was built in 1701–1702 and is not open to the public. The Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross stands in Václav-Fiala Park; this Pseudo-Romanesque and Pseudo-Gothic building was constructed in 1863 according to plans by František Schmoranz. St Anne’s Chapel is located on the eastern outskirts of the town and was built in 1902 on the site of an earlier small chapel, based on a design by František Kruml in a Romanticizing style. The Jewish cemetery in Chotěboř is surrounded by a Catholic cemetery. The artist Zdeněk Rykr, who was born in Chotěboř, designed the packaging for the Kofila chocolate bar. When planning a cultural day, you can distinguish between exhibitions, sacred buildings, cemeteries and different architectural forms.

Events

The Fantazie Festival is a traditional pop-culture festival that has been held since 1996. Its programme includes science fiction, fantasy and horror, games, film screenings, competitions, workshops, lectures, exhibitions and concerts, among other things. For travel planning, this type of event can be considered a distinct cultural focus alongside the historic sites.

Nature

Near Chotěboř lies the Údolí řeky Doubravy Nature Reserve, with a canyon-like wooded valley, a riverbed characterized by boulders and rapids. In the Údolí Doubravy Nature Reserve, the AOPK ČR arranged for the damaged nature trail to be repaired at the end of the previous year. Those who do not want to combine town history, the festival programme and the landscape into a single focus can assign separate priorities to these topics when planning their own trip.

Holiday Apartment in Chotěboř

When choosing a holiday apartment in Chotěboř, you can compare the travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions of the individual offers in advance. Travel dates define the time frame, while the room category indicates the respective classification. The cancellation conditions also show the rules under which the individual offers differ from one another. The historic town centre, the Doubrava Valley and the Fantazie Festival represent different focuses that can be taken into account in your schedule alongside the details of the holiday apartment. This keeps cultural sightseeing, nature-related activities and event dates visible as separate points of reference.

Other Places

Other places in the same broader area: Sobíňov, Nová Ves U Světlé, Prosíčka, Tis, Hurtova Lhota, Hostačov, Skryje, Šlapanov

To the broader travel overview: Havlíčkův Brod District.