Demiurges of their own microcosmos: Bishop Karl's baroque Flower Garden in Kroměříž and Baťa's City of Zlín
Living three hundred years apart yet having similar concepts and dreams, Bishop Karl von Lichtenstein-Castelcorno and Czech self-made man and entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa carved legacies into the history of Czech urban and garden planning. Through personal dreams and convictions they each built micro-universes according to their own plans and needs.
Bishop Karl von Lichtenstein came to the Czech lands after the devastating Thirty Years’ War, and his focus was on making a floral garden which would be a microcosmos on its own, providing pleasure and rest for visitors. Hence, the Floral Garden in Kroměříž, with its unique and rich baroque symbolism, was created, and added to UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List in 1998.
Parallels can be found in the City of Zlín, a functionalist miracle built according to the needs of Tomáš Baťa, a shoemaker whose ideas (inspired by H. Ford) were distributed to all of the countries his shoe making business could get into: India, the UK, the USA, Brazil and many others. The City of Zlín was planned to maximize gains from workers’ labour for workers. Everything that was needed was provided in this unique social experiment: places to work, places to live, education for all, entertainment, shopping… all in then-Czechoslovakia’s ‘golden era.’
Find out more about the Flower Garden in Kroměříž and the City of Zlín with us in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute, the Olomouc Museum of Art, the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín and the Museum of South-Eastern Moravia. Walk in the footsteps of the baroque world of symbols and opulence, and discover Bata's city.
Recommended for members of: NATHIST, ICFAA, ICAMT
Museums Visited
Flower Garden in Kroměříž – National Heritage Institute
https://www.kvetnazahrada-kromeriz.cz/en
Olomouc Museum of Art
https://www.muo.cz/en/kromeriz-archdiocesan-museum/
Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín
https://www.galeriezlin.cz/en/
Museum of South-Eastern Moravia
https://www.muzeum-zlin.cz/homepage
Itinerary
7:12
Departure of the Museum Retro Train from Prague’s Main Railway Station
11:00
Arrival at Brno’s Main Railway Station
11:15
Departure by bus to Kroměříž
12:30
Arrival in Kroměříž
12:45
Light buffet lunch in the garden with a surprise, followed by a guided garden walk
14:30
Departure to Zlín
15:30
Guided tours of the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín, the Museum of South-Eastern Moravia and Bat’a’s skyscraper
17:30
Departure to Brno
19:27
The Museum Retro Train departs from Brno’s Main Railway station
Please be at the railway station at least 15 minutes prior to departure.
