Kladno

Kladno is a city of 68,000 people (2023) in Central Bohemia. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history.

Understand

For years, the city was home to the Poldi steel factory, the region's largest employer. Since economic restructuring in the 1990s, the heavy industry has largely been replaced by services and light industry.

Get in

It sits about 17 km (11 mi) northwest of Prague.

See

• 1 Hornický skanzen Mayrau.  
• 2 Budeč. Ruins of Slavic hill fort and oldest standing building in the Czech Republic - Church of Saint Peter and Paul from 895(!), near Kladno.  
• 3 Lidice Memorial. Memorial of village completely destroyed during the Nazi occupation, as revenge for assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in 1942.  
• 4 Svatováclavský dub.  
• 5 Lány Castle.  
• 6 Melicharovo vlastivědné muzeum.  

Kladno Castle

• 7 Kladno Castle (Kladenský zámek). The castle began as a Gothic fortress, rebuilt in the Renaissance style in the 1560s, then completely rebuilt into a Baroque castle in 1737–1740 by the architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer. Today it houses a museum and gallery. Next to the castle is a castle park with a beararium built in 2001.  
• There are several major landmarks of Kladno on the Starosty Pavla Square:
  • 8 Church of the Assumptio of the Virgin Mary (Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie). This church was built in the Neoromanesque style in 1897–1899. It was built on the site of a Gothic church from the 1350s.  
  • The city hall is a Neorenaissance house, which was built in 1897–1898.
  • The Marian sculpture group was created according to the design by K. I. Dietzenhofer in 1739–1741. This late Baroque columns stands on the site where the pillory used to be. Notable is also the Archdeaconry building
• 9 Chapel of Saint Florian (Kaple svatého Floriána). significant Baroque chapel that was is the last project of K. I. Dietzenhofer before his death. The construction started in 1751 and after being interrupted, it was completed in 1827.  
• The former synagogue is a Neorenaissance building from 1884. Today it serves as a prayer house of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.
• There are four churches in the local parts of Kladno:
  • The Church of Saint John the Baptist in Dubí was built as a Gothic church, first documented in 1352. In 1861, it was rebuilt into its current form with a Neogothic tower. It is a pilgrimage site.
  • The Church of Saint Nicholas in Vrapice was a Romanesque rotunda from the early 13th century, rebuilt in the Gothic style around 1400. It was then rebuilt and extended in 1858.
  • The Church of Saint Wenceslaus in Rozdělov is modern, built in 1925–1927.
  • The Church of Saint Nicholas in Švermov, built in 1912–1913, is a mixture of Art Nouveau and Modernism.

Do

• 1 Smečenská rokle.