Brandýs nad Labem - Stará Boleslav

I took the bus this morning to the town of Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav (pop. 16 300) which straddles the river Elbe, 17 kilometres northeast of Prague. Stara Boleslav played an important role in the beginning of the Premyslid state(The Czech State). Its fortress was founded at the turn of the 10th century.

Stara Boleslav went down in infamy due to one important historical event – Prince Wenceslas(Valcav), one of the most important sovereigns in Czech history, was assassinated there by his own brother Boleslav in 929. The Prince was later canonized and proclaimed The Patron Saint of Bohemia and a symbol of Czech statehood. Thereafter a basilica was built on the same place where Wenceslas died.

The prosperity of Brandýs nad Labem is often linked with a Renaissance chateau of the same name that was reconstructed from an older late-Gothic castle. It was a favorite summer residency of Czech monarchs, above all Rudolf II, from the 16th century.

Archduke Karel and his wife Zita - the last couple of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy – lived at the Brandýs Chateau before the First World War.

It is because of them I ventured here today, to take in the annual Monarchy celebration and festival called the: “Audience u Císaře Karla I” in celebration of this last living vestige of the Monarchy: Karel I. This last monarchy ended at the end of WWI when Czechoslovakia became a republic with the election of its first president, Thomas Masseryk.It t