CzechTourism agency preparing to spotlight the country’s Baroque legacy

After a year of events dedicated to highlighting the legacy of Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, CzechTourism is preparing its main theme for 2017. The focus will be on the country’s Baroque period, with its architecture, landscape, music and gastronomy.

Vrtba Gardens in Prague’s Lesser Town, photo: Juan de Vojníkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

The Church of St. Nicholas or the Vrtba Gardens in Prague’s Lesser Town are just two of the city’s Baroque gems admired by millions of visitors every year. In 2017 these and dozens of other Baroque sites will be at the center of a campaign to promote the Czech Republic abroad. The campaign’s chief organizer, the government agency Czech Tourism aims to spend millions of crowns highlighting the country’s Baroque heritage. Czech Tourism’s marketing director Radana Koppová explained why they had selected this particular theme.

“Our main theme in promoting the Czech Republic in 2016 was the 700th anniversary of the birth of Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. In 2018 we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of independent Czechoslovakia and move closer to the history of the 20th century. The Baroque theme allows us to tell the story of Czech greats and the Czech landscape in between these two important anniversaries. That is why we chose the Baroque.”

The Church of St. Nicholas in Prague’s Lesser Town, photo: Jan Sommer, Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0

Czech Tourism has already chosen marketing firms to present the campaign at 13 tourism fairs abroad, including Berlin, London, Moscow and Dubai. Millions of crowns will be spent to promote the year of Czech Baroque by means of videos and booklets, but also on refreshment that would be reminiscent of the Baroque era and attract the attention of foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic preparations are peaking to present the country’s Baroque legacy in the best possible light. Among the gems to be spotlighted are the Baroque complex in Kuks, east Bohemia, which underwent a big reconstruction two years ago, the UNESCO-listed town of Český Krumlov, south Bohemia, Olomouc, in Moravia, with its Holy Trinity column and well as a dozen other Czech sites on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.

The title of the campaign is Baroque Through All The Senses and Czech Tourism promises visitors an unforgettable experience. Radana Koppová again:

Radana Koppová, photo: LinkedIn

“We think that Baroque should be experienced through all the senses and we would like to create a good perception of our Czech Baroque for tourists and visitors. There will be a lot of interesting events combining music, dance and gastronomy. For example I would mention the Baroque festival in the flower garden in Kromeříž, the festival of Baroque art in Český Krumlov or the West Bohemian Baroque festival in Plzen.”

If the Czech Republic is not represented at a tourism fair in your home town then you can find out more about the upcoming year of Czech Baroque at Czechtourism.cz by clicking on Czech Republic –Land of Stories.