Our Destination is Kladno, Czech Republic

Let me guess – you like travelling, you enjoy visiting new countries and cities, make new and meet old friends. And of course, you are the hockey fan or maybe even a player? Let’s mix it! Be a hockey tourist; visit some famous hockey places with me! Today I’ll take you to Kladno, Czech – the birthplace of Jaromir Jagr



Situated some 30 kilometres west of Prague, Kladno with the 75,000 inhabitants still stands for coal and steel in the popular awareness. But these attributes refer rather to Kladno's history and fit much less for the present. Coal mining has moved out of town and metallurgy has shrunk. The face of Kladno, especially the central pedestrian zone, now lives its renaissance. The oldest testimony refers to a small village in the period of 1315-18 while 1561 is the year of Kladno's becoming a vassal town. The last lords of the Břevnov and Broumov Benedictine Demesne invited the baroque Master Kilián I. Dientzenhofer to Kladno, and three of his works have survived down to our times: the mansion (today a gallery and museum); St Florian's sculpture group; and the Immaculata group. The 1870 promotion to royal town and the 1898 status of a royal mining town have supported the development of the town centre which now consists of a number of historicising, ArtNouveau, and modernist public buildings and burgher houses many of which are under restoration today.



The 1846 discovery of coal and the build-up of the Adalbert and Poldi metallurgical works made Kladno rapidly evolve into Central Bohemia's largest industrial centre. But you must visit the Poldi Engineering Museum or the mining museum at the Mayrau Mine at the north-western edge to see the short industrial season today. Kladno is the base for one of Central Bohemia's oldest theatres; has got several galleries; is good at ice-hockey-just remember František Pospišil or Jaromír Jágr (bottom photo); and offers much in terms of social and cultural life and sports facilities. The south-western frontier is the forest clad countryside which merges into a holiday area around Kačák and Křivoklát. The vicinity of Prague, good accommodation facilities, and good links with the Prague Airport make Kladno a suitable base if you want to see Prague.



We were about to visit Canadiens Tomas Plekanec - who is from Kladno as well, but...OK, next time!