Discover Svitavy: Culture, Nature and Special Experiences

Svitavy combines an impressive urban history with ponds, forest paths, and unusual experiences. Here you can explore historic spaces and exhibitions, walk through the city along a heritage trail, or discover nature-related themes around the sources of the Svitava. There are also specific options for a stay with children, ranging from playful adventures to a cycling route with an easy elevation profile.

Culture and Urban History in Svitavy

The Church of St. Giles preserves its original interior furnishings. These include the Chapel of St. Nicholas, the Marian Chapel, altars, and a pulpit. The Svitavy Town Museum and Gallery focus their collecting, exhibition, and educational work primarily on regional history, fine art, crafts, and the folk traditions of the Hřebečsko region. In Svitavy, you can therefore encounter both sacred art and the region’s everyday and cultural history.

The “History of Washing” exhibition offers unusual insights. In the laundry room set up there, visitors can try washing on a washboard and mangling laundry with a historic mangle. The Esperanto Museum documents the origins and history of the Esperanto movement in the Czech Republic and abroad, its diverse practical uses today, and Esperanto activities in the Svitavy region.

The Svitavy heritage trail leads across the main square and through old streets. Along the way, you will see evidence of the former prosperity of the textile industry, the residential villas of factory owners, and garden parks. The tour can be completed on foot in less than two hours. The historic townscape also includes the Ottendorferův dům, which opened as a library and reading room in 1892; its construction was fully financed by the patron Oswald Ottendorfer. The monument to Oskar Schindler in front of his birthplace symbolizes Svitavy as a city of three nationalities: Czechs, Germans, and Jews. The inscription commemorates the saving of lives during the Holocaust. The “Search for the Star of David” exhibition tells the story of Oskar and Emilie Schindler, who saved 1,200 persecuted Jews during the Second World War.

Ponds, Forest, and Paths for Active Days

The educational trail to the sources of the Svitava runs through the attractive and heavily visited recreation area around Svitavy’s two largest ponds, Rosnička and Dolní rybník. The stations provide information about the biology, ecology, and history of the ponds, life in the forest, and the source area of the Svitava. An ornithological observation point offers an excellent overview for observing birds, particularly in the rear sections of the pond, which are covered with reeds, cattails, reed canary grass, and sedges.

A twelve-kilometre cycling route runs through the Brand forest recreation area, with an easy elevation profile that children can also manage without difficulty. The Stezka příběhů lesa pod Sluneční Strání uses information boards to introduce the animals and plants that can be encountered on the Javornický ridge. Even more playful is Sváťova zážitková cesta: visitors can enjoy a storytelling adventure in which they rescue the Swan Princess or take part in tournaments involving board games and marbles. The range therefore extends from nature observation and cycling to a story that combines movement and play.

You can therefore discover Svitavy according to different interests: as a city for historical exhibitions and a manageable walking tour, as a starting point for exploring ponds and forest topics, or as a destination for an active cycling outing and family-oriented play experiences.

Other Destinations in the Area

For further orientation, Moravská Trebová, Víska U Jevíčka, Hradec Nad Svitavou, Sedliště, Sebranice, Bohuňovice, Chornice and Javorník are also among the other destinations in this navigation that can be reached directly.

For the higher-level travel overview: Svitavy District.