Kutná Hora, Czech Republic: Self-Guided Walking Tour

Kutná Hora is a historic town in the Czech Republic that grew rich from silver mining and today offers a compact mix of Gothic churches, unusual bone decorations and minting heritage. Its compact centre makes it easy to explore on foot, and Neywo provides a free audio guide with 44 narrated places to help you discover the stories behind each site at your own pace.

Exploring Kutná Hora’s Highlights

Sedlec Ossuary

The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, famous for its interior decorated with human bones. A bone chandelier hangs in the nave, containing at least one example of every human bone, while four bell‑shaped mounds stand at the corners. Bone piers and monstrances flank the altar, and the coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg appears among the decorations. Near the entrance you can see the signature of František Rint, crafted in bone. The cemetery church dates to the High Gothic period around 1400 and was later remodeled in the Baroque Gothic style by Jan Blažej Santini in the early eighteenth century.

St. Barbara’s Church

St. Barbara’s Church (Chrám svaté Barbory) is a monumental Gothic building designed like a cathedral with five naves. It measures roughly 70 metres long and 40 metres wide, dominating the skyline beyond the Old Town. The townspeople funded its construction through the Brotherhood of the Body of God, intending to rival Prague Cathedral. Building began in 1388, was halted for over sixty years during the Hussite Wars, resumed in 1482, stopped again in 1588 for lack of funds, and was finally completed in later phases. Since 1995 the church has been part of Kutná Hora’s UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Church of Saint James

The Church of Saint James (Svatý Jakub) is recognised by its western façade, which shows two planned towers—only the northern tower was finished, reaching about eighty metres, while the southern tower remains unfinished. Construction started in the first half of the fourteenth century and continued into the fifteenth, with the Parléř workshop influencing its Gothic details. The striking asymmetry of the towers makes the church an easy landmark to spot.

Kašna na Havlíčkově náměstí

This fountain doubles as a memorial to the writer Karel Havlíček Borovský, also known as Pomník K. H. Borovského. The nearby fountain is listed as a separate point of interest, inviting a brief pause while you walk through the square.

Kostel Matky Boží Na Náměti

Known as the Lower Church, this Gothic building is one of Kutná Hora’s protected historic landmarks. Its simple yet dignified form reflects the town’s medieval religious architecture.

Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist

Located in Sedlec a short distance northeast of the centre, this church began as the convent church of the Cistercian monastery. Its original Gothic structure dates to the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, featuring a five‑nave cathedral layout with a transept. In the early eighteenth century the medieval fabric was renewed in the distinctive Baroque Gothic style, giving the building its present character. It is included in Kutná Hora’s UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Fountain in the Italian Court

The Italian Court (Vlašský dvůr) once served as a royal residence and the central mint where Prague groschen were struck. The minting chamber, called the Preghaus, was arranged around the courtyard. Founded before 1300 by King Wenceslas II, the complex was rebuilt at the end of the fourteenth century, completed for Wenceslas IV, and altered again in the 1490s for Vladislaus II. After minting ceased in the second quarter of the eighteenth century the court fell into decline, but between 1893 and 1899 architect Ludvík Lábler restored it in a strong Neo‑Gothic style. The fountain in the courtyard is a notable feature to notice while exploring the site.

Church of Saint John of Nepomuk

This Baroque church is one of Kutná Hora’s notable cultural monuments. Its ornate façade and interior decoration exemplify the town’s later artistic periods.

Breüerovy sady

Breüerovy sady is a pleasant park where you can rest, enjoy greenery, and take in the surroundings before continuing your walk through the town.

Czech Museum of Silver

Housed in the historic Hrádek building, the museum traces the story of silver from a Gothic fortress to a patrician palace and later a Jesuit school. Hrádek became a cultural monument in 1966 and has hosted the museum’s exhibition since 1996, offering insight into the metal that shaped Kutná Hora’s prosperity.

Dačického dům

Dačický House stands on the corner of Komenský Square and Rejskova Street. Its Baroque façade gives the building a strong presence and marks it as a distinctive element of the Inner Town’s streetscape.

GASK

The Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region (GASK) occupies a renovated Baroque building that formerly housed the Jesuit College. It cares for nearly ten thousand works, including about three thousand paintings, six hundred sculptures, two thousand drawings and three thousand prints. Founded in 1964 as the Central Bohemian Gallery, it moved to the Jesuit College in 1998 and adopted its current name; since 2009 it has been a subsidised organisation of the region.

Stone House

Known locally as Kamenný dům, this late Gothic town house is one of Kutná Hora’s distinctive historic buildings, showcasing the town’s medieval residential architecture.

Tylův památník

Tyl House (Tylův památník) sits on Tylova Street, formerly Čáslavská Street. Once called the House at the Golden Nail, it is now protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic and contributes to the town’s unique architectural fabric.

Statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

Located before the Italian Court, this statue honours the first president of Czechoslovakia and serves as a modern monument amid the historic surroundings.

Explore Kutná Hora with Neywo

Neywo’s free audio guide lets you discover Kutná Hora at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. The app offers three walking tours and one bus route:

• Silver, Plague and Gothic Towers – 1.26 km, 86 minutes, 11 stops (including St. Barbara’s Church, GASK, the Czech Museum of Silver and the Church of Saint James).
• Royal Mint to Theatre: The Upper Town – 1.45 km, 75 minutes, 9 stops (Italian Court, the Masaryk statue, the Havlíček Borovský memorial, Tylův památník and the Church of Saint John the Baptist).
• Sedlec: Bones, Abbey and Baroque Gothic – 0.55 km, 46 minutes, 4 stops (Sedlec Ossuary, Sedlec Abbey, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist, and the Church of Saints Philip and James).
• Bus 801: From the Old Town to the Ossuary and Malín – 7.4 km, 32 minutes, 6 stops (Church of Saint John of Nepomuk, the Virgin Mary column, Tylův památník, Tylovo divadlo, the Church of the Assumption and the Church of Saint John the Baptist).

Each story plays automatically as you reach a location, available in 11 languages, so you can listen, learn and wander whenever you choose. Download Neywo today and let the town’s silver‑filled stories guide your steps.