Discover Polička: City Walls, Martinů and Culture

Polička combines a history of medieval fortifications with exhibitions dedicated to the town and composer Bohuslav Martinů. The Baroque Town Hall, with a Gothic and a Baroque chapel, and cultural heritage in the Liboháj forest park are also among the town’s highlights. If you are looking for a destination with this kind of cultural and historical focus, you can explore the town’s history, music and visual arts here.

Polička’s City Walls and History

The present fortifications were built in the mid-14th century under Charles IV. The medieval city walls can be visited on a guided tour lasting 45 to 60 minutes. This gives your visit a clear time frame; the visit is described as a guided tour.

The permanent exhibition “History of the Town of Polička” offers a different perspective on the town’s past. It covers the period from the founding of Polička by the Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II in 1265 to 1945. The fortifications and the exhibition therefore focus on different things: the walls point to 14th-century construction, while the exhibition spans a longer historical period, from the town’s founding to the 20th century. If you want to understand Polička in its historical context, these two subjects complement each other without covering the same period.

Bohuslav Martinů and Polička

The exhibition “A Colourful World of Bohuslav Martinů” at the Bohuslav Martinů Centre is dedicated to the composer. It presents his life story; his life has been permanently connected with Polička from the very beginning. Another point of interest is Bohuslav Martinů’s birth room in the tower of St James’s Church. You can therefore consider the exhibition about the composer’s biography and the birth room associated with him as two different aspects of this subject.

For planning your trip, the distinction between the town’s history and its musical history is a helpful point of reference: the permanent exhibition on the town’s history spans 1265 to 1945, while the Martinů exhibition focuses on the life story of one person. Which of these perspectives interests you more can shape the focus of your stay in Polička.

The Town Hall, a Portrait and Glass Art

The gallery in the Baroque Town Hall houses the Renaissance group portrait “Garden Feast of the Hohenems Family,” considered the largest of its kind outside Italy. The same Town Hall contains two distinctive chapels, one Gothic and one Baroque. The building thus offers a connection to Renaissance painting as well as two different architectural styles. The chapels are a distinctive feature of the Town Hall in their own right, not part of the gallery.

The permanent exhibition “Glassmaking in the Horácko Region” offers a different way to explore cultural heritage. Its subject is the craftsmanship of glassmakers and the delicacy of their glassware. Unlike the portrait in the Town Hall, the focus here is not on a single work of art, but on the skill of the glassmakers and the qualities of their products. This makes the exhibition particularly interesting if you are interested in crafts and design.

Cultural Heritage in Liboháj Forest Park

Historical cultural heritage can also be found in Liboháj forest park. A monument to Jan Hus was erected there in 1921: a bronze relief on a granite block, created by Vojtěch Eduard Šaff, a sculptor born in Polička. The details about the material and artist make the monument a tangible work in its own right and connect it with a sculptor from Polička.

A natural amphitheatre was built in the same forest park in the 1920s, where many amateur theatre performances took place. The dates refer to different historical events: 1921 refers to the erection of the monument, while the 1920s refer to the construction of the amphitheatre. Its amateur performances are recorded as a past use, not as an indication of performances taking place today.

Polička is also a gateway to the Žďárské vrchy. The town’s history, exhibitions on Martinů and glassmaking, the Town Hall and the heritage in the forest park offer specific cultural topics to consider when choosing a destination. You can therefore assess Polička according to whether you are most drawn to the town’s historical development, its connection with a composer, or its different forms of art and craftsmanship.

Discover more destinations: Lubná, Sloupnice, Borušov, Vendolí, Sádek, Malíkov, Pomezí, Korouhev.

For the broader travel overview: Svitavy District.