Olomouc: An ancient hero beneath a sunlit storm

Olomouc, Czech Republic

An hour's drive from Brno, the town of Olomouc is little known outside of the Czech Republic. 

The stunning archtiecture and winding old streets were very surprising, as I visited with no expectations whatsoever. 

While some of the buildings were grandiose, some were decrepit and abandoned, as can be seen in much of the rest of the country. The town definitely felt as though it was once prosperous and bustling, and time crept up on it. 

Echoing this feeling of the town, a sculpture of the Greek hero Heracles (he seems to be popular in the Czech Republic) remains heroic and triumphant while ageing. It it very unusual to see Heracles like this, with a pinched, wrinkled face and a paunch. Still killing it though. Literally. What are those snake demons anyway?

What is this, a town for ants?!

A walk past the town hall had us cowering under a rain cloud, but luckily the sun was still shining! The last sun shower I experienced was in Lake Waikaremoana, and comparing those two places really made me feel far from home. The blue waters, and hills saturated in the greenest of foliage, and now here with pink and beige buildings and representations of elderly crimefighters. Starkly different, but both wonderful in their own right. 

One of Olomouc's top attractions is the Trinity Column, so that stands out a fair bit more than your average plague column. Situated right next to the church, it shines out like a golden beacon down to the plebs below. 

Heading over to the museum of modern art, we chose not to take in contemporary works and instead ate toasted cheese sandwiches and dark chocolate tarts in the attached Café 87. Savouring the homemade lemonades that are so easy to find in the Czech Republic, we sucked fresh blueberries up our straws (often getting them clogged). 

Without much time left in the day, we hightailed it to the Archdiocesan Museum, where the magnificently fancy Troyer Coach resides like a sleeping prince. Initially we couldn't find the entrance and circled the block through a large park and fretted that he museum would shut its doors before we arrived. Luckily an attendant was in every room to help us in the right direction (this sometimes involved ushering us around to where we should go next or shoving us out doors and locking them behind). 

We were able to see the foundations of the original Olomouc Castle, and several troubling religious sculptures. The one above, called Křivák's Pietà, had been painstakingly restored and oddly wasn't behind glass as others had been. Through restoration, it was revealed that certain colours had been painted differently through the years and the original polychromatic scheme was reinstated. As the minute hand ticked ever closer to the hour, we rushed back to the foyer where a concerned staff member wanted us to see a special exhibition which was included in our ticket price. He said that there wasn't enough time then, but we should return the next day as it was free on Sundays. He was so earnest in his desire for us to see this great exhibition, and we felt bad we hadn't the time to return. Even with limited time, we were very glad we visited the museum and were even more glad that we took the trip to Olomouc, which is decidedly a little gem east of Brno. 

Today's post was almost called: The Twelve Tasks of Herniaclese (or They Don't Make Medusas Like They Used To)