Tours of Old Bohemia with Eva Spolek
Guided day trips to infamous & mysterious Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora
For a brief spell in Bohemia, a hermetic, alchemical and kabbalistic enlightenment influenced the seeds of modern science and attempted to give birth to a new era. In her classic book, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, the great historian Frances Yates brought alive to the modern world an extraordinary period in early 17th Century Europe, long lost to memory. Only now, almost four hundred years after the publication of the Rosicrucian manifesto and the Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, are we awakening to the full significance of that moment and its relevance to our own epoch.
Join us on this imaginative and spiritual rediscovery of that magical time in the very region where “it all took place”. We travel from Prague in our coach through the lands of castles, rivers, dragons and ancient heroes to the lands of old Bohemia.
The role of Kutna Hora.
Kutna Hora was a silver mining town, which began, in medieval times in Bohemia. Its sacred geometry is embedded in the town’s architecture and underground labyrinths. Also more than 20 ceramic prehistoric cultures have been discovered in the area. Two “henge” circular sanctuaries made of earth and wood and a thousand years older than Stonehenge, were recently discovered (they are called "rondels" in the Czech language)
The town developed during the medieval period into the second most important city next to Prague, a royal city endowed with monuments that symbolized its prosperity and is now a UNESCO heritage site. The Church of St Barbara, a jewel of the late Gothic period and, for an adventure in architecture, the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec referred to as the famous “Bone Church”, which was restored in line with the Baroque taste of the early 18th century, were to influence the architecture of all central Europe. These masterpieces today form part of a well-preserved medieval township along with a clutch of great little bars and restaurants serving fresh beer and traditional food.
On our journey, we will make a visit to a very special glass factory in Svetla nad Sazavou. Their showroom is a fairytale place! You will have a tour of the factory and witness the tradition of glass blowing and cutting that has made the Czech people so famous in the world. Some of our teachings in the Alchemy of Prague event are about the lost secrets of making “the alchemy” glass from ancient Bohemia (they don’t know how it was done and they have not been able to replicate it) Will our group solve this mystery