Silver church, bone chapel, royal mint

For a visitor Kutná Hora is two places: the silver-mining old town around St Barbara's, and Sedlec with its ossuary and cathedral. I'd do Sedlec first, before the coaches arrive.

1. Walk the whole nave at St Barbara's

St Barbara's Church was begun in 1388 and only finished in 1905. Look for the medieval frescoes of the mining town's working life. Adults pay 180 Kč; prices change on 1 January 2027.

2. Reach the ossuary at opening time

The Sedlec Ossuary holds the bones of somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 people; nobody has an exact count. Adults pay 220 Kč. It opens 09:00, until 18:00 in summer and 16:00 in winter, and repairs run to 2030.

3. Cross the road to the cathedral

The Cathedral of the Assumption was founded in 1142. Jan Santini Aichel later gave it its odd Baroque Gothic look.

4. See where the groschen were struck

The Italian Court was the royal mint until 1727.

5. Visit Hrádek for the silver

Hrádek started as a wooden fort in 1312. The Czech Silver Museum has used it since 1947.

6. Find the twelve-sided fountain

The Stone Fountain dates from about 1495 and stored the town's drinking water until 1663.

7. Look up at St James

The tower of St James's Church is 80.5 metres tall, and the church was finished by 1370, before St Barbara's was even begun.

The classic mistake is the ossuary at noon, with three coaches outside.

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Dumplings and beer from the reopened brewery

1. Order the boar goulash at Dačický

Dačický is named after Mikuláš Dačický of Heslov (1555–1626), a chronicler who killed a man in a pub brawl as a young man. The current family has run it since 2001. Wild boar goulash with dried-fruit dumplings is 289 Kč.

2. Eat svíčková or the dill-sauce beef

Beef in cream sauce with bread dumplings is 269 Kč at Dačický. Beef in dill sauce is 199 Kč, the cheapest main on the menu.

3. Share the pork knee or the duck

Pork knee baked in dark beer is 379 Kč; roast duck with red cabbage is 339 Kč. Start with the beef broth and liver dumplings, 99 Kč.

4. Drink the town's own lager

Kutná Hora Zlatá 12 is 59 Kč a half-litre at Dačický. It comes from the Měšťanský pivovar on U Lorce, which has a shop and a taproom; brewery tours are by appointment.

My pick is the 199 Kč dill-sauce beef and a Zlatá 12.

Advent Saturdays and Royal Silvering

1. Shop the three advent Saturdays

Markets fill Palackého náměstí on 5, 12 and 19 December 2026 from 11:00, with music from 15:00. I'd park free on Na Valech and walk up.

2. Expect new ticket prices in January

St Barbara's changes its prices on 1 January 2027. The new list wasn't out when I checked.

3. Watch for Royal Silvering in June

Královské stříbření fills the park below the Italian Court with knights, a market and Saturday fireworks. The 2026 edition was 20–21 June. The 2027 dates aren't published.

4. Check whether the Sedlec car park is open

The new Sedlec car park is due by the end of 2026. If it's open, it changes where the coaches stop.

Silver, a decree and a handful of holy soil

1. Thank silver for all of it

Mining started around 1260. From about 1300 the Italian Court struck the Prague groschen, the coin that made the town rich.

2. Remember the 1409 decree

On 18 January 1409 King Wenceslas IV signed the Decree of Kutná Hora here. It gave the Czech nation three votes at Prague University, against one for the others.

3. Treat the Golgotha soil as a story

In 1278 Abbot Henry is said to have brought earth from Golgotha and scattered it on the Sedlec cemetery, so everyone wanted to be buried there. The half-blind monk who stacked the bones after 1511 is legend too. What's documented is František Rint, who arranged them in 1870 and signed his name in bone.