About Nepomuk

Welcome to Nepomuk, the birthplace of St John of Nepomuk. The town with a rich history and a lot of tourist opportunities is situated at the border of the Brdy highlands and the foothills of the Bohemian Forest, 35 km to the southeast of Plzeň. It was formed by the merge of two originally separate settlements Pomuk and Přesanice at an important trade path.

A great boom of the town of Nepomuk is connected with the foundation of the Cistercian monastery in 1144 and with the development of trades and business. In the 13th century Nepomuk was granted the right of capital punishment. A great source of wealth was also silver extraction and gold panning whose relics in this landscape can be seen to this day.

In 1413, the original market village was promoted to a small town that became an economic and administrative centre of the monastery estate. In 1420 the monastery was burnt to the ground and its property passed to the Švamberks family, the then owners of the Zelená Hora estate. Thanks to the manorial nobility and the sovereigns themselves the town was granted an extensive right of brewing and the right to hold annual markets. In 1730, emperor Charles VI promoted Nepomuk to the town. Since the mid-19th century for almost a hundred years Nepomuk was the district town with its own jurisdiction.

A great boom of the town occurred in the 17 th – 19th centuries in connection with the pilgrimages of St John. St John of Nepomuk was born in Nepomuk about 1340. He became the notary public and general vicar of the Prague archdiocese and as one of the top dignitaries he found himself in the centre of the then disputes between the church and secular power. In 1393, after having been tortured, he was thrown down from Charles Bridge to the Vltava river and so he became the patron of bridges and all waters. In 1729, John of Pomuk was canonized by pope Benedict XIII. The cult was born reminded by hundreds of St John statues and churches not only in the territory of this country. St John of Nepomuk became the most significant baroque saint.

Nowadays the town of Nepomuk and its surroundings is a sought tourist destination of all generations. The history lovers will surely be attracted by a variety of preserved monuments, above all chateau Zelená Hora, a grand dominant and symbol towering above all landscape. The Church of St John of Nepomuk, the buildings of archdeaconry and an old Zelená Hora post-office, built by a renowned baroque builder K. I. Dientzenhofer, are also remarkable. The visitors are also attracted by an extensive exhibition of the Municipal Museum and Gallery situated in the original building of the Piarist school in the very centre of Nepomuk. The parents with their children can enjoy themselves in the Amusement park; teenagers may visit the skate-park. The beauties of this green area can be best enjoyed in hiking along the footpaths, riding along the cycle paths or travelling on horseback. You can hear murmur of surrounding forests and gurgle of brooks, you can feel the power of curative springs and you can experience an indefinable feeling of mental calm.

Culture and sights of Nepomuk

Church of St John of Nepomuk
In the southwest part of the square there is pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk. As legend tells us, in its place there had been parental home of the saint. In the 17th century the Šternberks family built here a small church of St John the Baptist that was in 1734 replaced by baroque church built by a renowned builder K. I. Dientzenhofer. Divine services in remembrance of the birth and martyrdom of St John have been conducted here to this day.

Chateau Zelená Hora
An impressive monument dominating this landscape is baroque chateau Zelená Hora towering on the hilltop of the same name above the town of Nepomuk. It was brought to public attention in particular by the discovery of the Zelená Hora Manuscript, conclusion of the Zelená Hora Unity and “Black Barons” /”politically unreliable soldiers in the period of socialism”/. The chateau owners were renowned families – the Švamberks, the Šternberks during whose possession the original castle was rebuilt to the chateau, the Martinics, the Colloredo-Mansfelds and the Aueršperks.

Municipal Museum and Gallery
The museum exhibition familiarises you with the heritage of St John of Nepomuk, the works of local native, painter A. Němejc, with the milieu of the town and folk classes and you can also see a lot of other interesting exhibits.

Church of St James
The original Romanesque church founded in the 12th century by the monks of the Cistercian monastery was in the late 13th century rebuilt in the Gothic and later on in the neo-Gothic style. The speciality of the church is its baroque tower built unusually in the axis of the presbytery in the late 18th century. A lot of valuable elements preserved in the interior including the tombstone of Ladislav of Šternberk dated back to 1566. Next to the church there is the building of archdeaconry with a curb roof rebuilt after the fire in 1746 based on the design of K.I.Dientzenhofer.