Pilsen – The Town the Pilsner Built

July 10, 2023 by admin

Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Traditional North American Counting Song

The Holy grail of beer destinations, Pilsen (Plzeň) is a town like no other! It is said that had pattons men not stopped here to drink, they would have liberated the city of Prague before the Red Army. Yet the legendary beer making town has a lot more to offer then suds, this is place steeped in medieval history with ancient cobblestone streets, rising spires and a rich Jewish Presence.

Geography and Transportation
A Brief History
- Medieval Era and the Thirty Years War
- Industrial Era and the Interbellum Period
What to do in the city of Beer!
Conclusion

Geography and Transportation

Located south-west of Prague on the Radbuza River, Pilsen is known for its mild climate and prime agricultural land. Although a quiet part of the country the university town is idyllic.

As for those taking public transportation into town, the intra city train station is located a quick ten minute walk from the city. As for your inter city needs, a limited but efficient streetcar system exists. In fact the lines date as far back as 1899 when the city was a leader of industry.

A Brief History

Despite its small stature, Pilsen has a varied and interesting history as a besieged fortress city as well as a center of commerce and industry.

Medieval Era and the Thirty Years War

The scene of a great battle between the Czechs and their oppressing Germans in 976, it was home to a small castle and was part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The town would not rise to prominence until the 13th century, when it received its Royal Charter from King Wenceslaus II.

A market town, it developed as an important stop on the road to Nuremberg and Regensburg in Germany and for a time during the 14th century, it was the third-largest town in Bohemia after Prague and Kutná Hora. Bohemia would pass into Austrian hands and would become the seat of Emperor Rudolf II for a short stint (only from 1599 to 1600). The region remained Catholic despite the Hussite Reformation that swept through Bohemia.

During Habsburg rule, the city sided with the Catholic Austrian’s in the Thirty Years’ War, where it was captured by the Protestant German commander Ernst Von Mansfeld (who was actually a Catholic). It stayed in protestant hands from 1618-1621. By the end of the war fortifications were improved due to the prevalence of the Swedish Army in the Area, now fighting on the protestant side. After the war the city benefited from the Jesuit movement and its propagation of Baroque architecture.

Industrial Era and the Interbellum Period

The city once again began to take off in the 19th century. Since the days of of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa the Czech lands were chosen to be at the center of the Austrian Industry, and as such this tradition only carried on into the Industrial Age. Two major industries powered the town, Škoda Works, and the Railways. The former was established in 1869 by the Czech Emil Škoda quickly becoming the most important and influential engineering company in the country. It was also a leading supplier of arms to the Austro-Hungarian Army, employing 30 000 people by 1917. While the former was the National Railways train workshop, the was the largest rail repair shop in all Austria-Hungary (the Plzeň railway junction was completed between 1861 and 1877, marking the city as a major hub).

These changes radically altered the makeup of the city, forever altering the sleepy Medieval atmosphere and bringing with it new challenges and opportunities. The new jobs attracted migration from other areas of Bohemia and the local Czech population soon outpaced the once dominant Germans once again. The population boom brought poverty but also wealth. A big milestone was the election of the first Czech mayor in 1868.

Although Plzeň was liberated from Nazi Germany by General Patton’s 3rd Army’s, the Czech Republic fell under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union after After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d’état. Industry was nationalized, Germans expelled and the city fell on hard times. The 1953 currency reformed created unrest in the city, including a 20 000 strong protest at the Skoda Works causing a harsh governmental response. Yet the city remained a center of resistance including a curious incident where a West German homing pigeon was lost at the border and returned two days later, with a message, signed “Unbowed Pilsen”. The anticommunist bird was named Leaping Lena and brought to the United States, where it was celebrated as a Cold War Hero.

The Velvet Revolution seems to have helped the city turn the corner and it now now a clean modern city with friendly people and a relaxed beer garden atmosphere.

What to do in the city of Beer!

Walking from the train station, south west of the old town, one will witness a strange spectacle – the entanglement of old derelict buildings with grand opulent ones such as the old district court.

On your way into the old town you will continue to notice that there are a number of abandoned structures but that there are less and less the closer you get to the urban core.

Finally you will be greeted by a triangular park with streetcar lins following it. This is Křižíkovy sady park and if offers a great view of the old town skyline.

Grab a Pint at the Pilsner Urquell Brewery Underground Vault

On your way into the old town you will see a massive complex! This is the Pilsner Urquell Brewery (Plzeňský Prazdroj), a must visit attraction in old Pilsen. You should make this your first stop, at the very least to purchase brewery tour tickets for later in the afternoon. After entering the ground you will be in large courtyard. Enter the yellow building to buy your tickets. The brewery was opened 1842 by a Bavarian brewer called Josef Groll, and the complex has retained much of its old charm. It remained private until a forced nationalization in 1946, but was sold off after the state liberalized again in the 1990’s.

In this building the tour will commence with a small exhibit about the town and the role the brewery played in its development. The exhibition begins with the development of crafts, proceeding to the guilds, an the development of copper crafting brewing, malting, haulage and catering. There is also a section on the fabrication of wooden beer barrels, as this is one of the few breweries to continue with that old tradition. In one shelf you will find plenty of awards that the brewery had won over the years.

You will also learn about the underground aquifers supping Pilsen, the water of which is the raison d’etre for this brewery.

The second part of the tour takes you into the main brewery building near the bottling plant at the back of the complex where you will find an old railcar once used to ship the product. From this point on you will have the chance to view the authentic medieval brewing house with malt house, including the late Gothic malt house, kiln, the original drying shed and cellars as well as a replica of a pub 19th & 20th centuries and a laboratory.

Note: The museum is now an important stop in the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Here the tour will take you through many of the ingredients and industrial processes used to create the product.

The tour will then transport you underground where the real fun begins!

Here you will get to experience the beer barrels being filled and stored.

You will also get to stop at a makeshift underground pub for a pinto! This is a unique experience as the beer you will be served is the unfiltered original, although it is less clear then the Pilsner sold in stores it is absolutely succulent and worth it. If all Pilsner was like this I would surely buy it more often! The only other place you can buy it at it in the world at a local pub in town called Senk Na Parkanu! So after your tour head on over for a drink!

On your way out you will find the old ice cellar. Keep in mind the advantage of having these cool underground chambers for storing the beer. Once large quantities of ice once were needed to keep the product cold and it had to be shipped in a long way leading to the creation of an ice hauling industry. Today refrigeration has made this process completely redundant.

Pay a Visit to the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew and The Old Town

Apart from visiting the previously mentioned Senk Na Parkanu Pub for an unfiltered Pilsner, there is a wealth of things to do in the old city, namely visiting the main square Náměstí Republiky. Home to the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, a 13th century stone structure is built in Gothic style and was the focal point for life in the medieval city.

Off to the side you will find the Marian Column in front of the old city hall, an ornate red building with a clock attacked to it. This plague column was constructed in 1681 to commemorate the killer illness. These markers can be found in many Czech cities but this one stands out for its brialiant detailing.

There is a piece of modern art nearby but of course it is ugly.

The buildings lining the squate are equally as impressive and are a mix of architectural styles including Czech Baroque and Neoclassical.

Walk along the Mlýnská strouha and Visit the Old Water Tower

Near the Mlýnská strouha river you will find a beautiful Municipal sporting complex built in an old neoclassical structure.

The bridge over the Mlýnská strouha that allows you into the Old Town is located near Křižíkovy sady park. It offers a great view of the Brewery blowing smoke in the distance, and can look pretty with the buildings reflecting on the water. On its deck is the replica of a statue by Lazar Widermann that hard from 1750 has not been preserved because it was in poor condition and eventually fell apart and had to be replaced by this copy.

On the old town side of the iconic bridge you will find the water town and an long elegant building that looks like it was once possibly a market. That building is now the Kubišta – Filla museum, an exhibit of by Bohumil Kubišta and Emil Filla works from the Gallery of West Bohemia. This modern art display features works of Modern Art, especially Czech Cubism (1910–1925).

The watertower for its part dates from 1845. There is an underground display in the tunnels that explains the history of the building and displays its functioning, including the paddle-wheel, hollow wood flow pipes and pump. This issue will be revisited in the tunnels section.

The tower is still en enduring symbol of the town and is one of the most recognizable monuments of the city and its industrial history.

Get Cultured at the Pilsen Beer Museum

Not far from the watertower and in between colorful guild homes (and one with religious reliefs) you will find a courtyard with the entrence to the the Tunnels of Pilzen and the Entrance to the Museum of beer.

The museum is also home to a cozy pub, so you can grab a Pilsner while waiting for a tour of the tunnels. The museum itself is in a historical cellar with models of old breweries with beer tastings. You can buy some of these beers where you would buy your tickets for the brewseum and tunnels.

Make sure to check out the Brewing Rights Gate while you are here. The 16th century portal represents the privilege granted to some burghers to sell beer from their homes. Two-hundred and fifty families were allowed this privilege. The gate has been restored by the Brewery museum owner and a new wooden gate crafted from ancient barrels found in its cellar.

So get underground and enjoy a pint!

Head Underground through the Tunnels Of Pilsen

From the ticked office this guided tour only attraction will take you into the heart of Pilsen’s underground tunnel network, one of the most expansive in Central Europe. From the map below you can see that only a small loop of the old town network has yet to be reopened to visitors.

The tunnels are actually part of the city’s long brewing history. They began when locals started building cellars beneath their homes where they were used with the later added tunnels for transportation, water access, sewage disposal and storage. The beer industry used these for their own purposes eventually.

As previously mentioned the cellars also allowed easy access to the watertable and wells. The old town was layed out in a serious of compounds of block houses with interior courtyards housing water wells at their center. There was over three hundred and sixty of these, some as far as twenty meters deep.

The tunnels were built over the 13th century to the 19th century and as you will see were done in different styles in construction techniques, some even have some modern reinforcements.

As well as many dead ends, still unexplored.

Over the years a wide array of objects have been stored down here and found, offering archeologists a wide ranging view of Pilsen life. This includes the scull of a horse dating from the 15th century, a 16th century pottery stove, kitchenware, glassware (an important Bohemian industry), an engraving about the 30 Years War and about rebuilding the town wall, detailed paneling, old water pipe made of stone and a lot more!

Speaking about war! There is a lot of to see on that subject down here. The tunnels were used during times of siege and were part of the city’s defense system. Not only are melee weapons on display but so are projectiles like musket shot cannon ball and catapult balls used during the Hussite wars in the 15th century.

The final room is located under the water tower, where you will find sections of hollowed wood pipe and the waterwheel that once powered the pump.

Stop at the Great Synagogue and Experience Pilsen’s Rich Jewish Heritage

On the west side of downtown, you will find the remnants of Pilsen’s once rich Jewish Heritage – one of the earliest and important Jewish communities in Bohemia.

In 1338 Charles IV signed a charter that allowed Jews a safe haven from the persecution so preveland in European life at the time. It required that city’s administrators protect the Jews from molestation or penalties would be imposed. Although the commitment to protecting the city’s Jewish citizens faltered (ex being explelled from the city in 1504, anti Jewish Riots …) they persevered and helped shape the city and were cruelly plucked from the community after the Holocaust. It must have been awful to have been a Jewish refugee fleeing from the Sudetenlands only to witness invasion a second time.

To better understand the Jewish people, two sites should be explored. The first is the Neo-Moorish Great Synagogue. Completed in 1893. Known for its dual towers, it is one of the five largest synagogues in the world. In 1941 is was closed for daily services and was planned to be demolished. Fortunately it was home to all of the confiscated Jewish goods and the Nazi regime kept it as storage for those items. It was finally reopened in 2022 to great fanfare!

The second site is the Old Synagogue. It too was subject to a planned demolition but this was abandoned after it would have forced the destruction of an entire city block. Instead the Germans conteneted themselves with murdering the Rabi in 1940 and the shipping off the congregation of concentration camps.

The Great Synagogue will soon be home a permanent exhibit called “Here Lived the Jews”, mapping out the lives of the city’s Jews.

Understand the city’s WW2 history at the Patton Memorial

Located ever slo slightly North-West of the old town, this small museum puts on display the advance of General Patton and his men the US Army during the Second World War.

The exhibit was opened in on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Pilsen and as such holds a fond place in the hearts of many.

Explore the Šafaříkovy Sady Moat/Park

This park has been built just outside where the walls of Pilsen encircled the medieval city, including what is now a filled in moat. It is here that you will find many of the city’s wide boulevards and stunning 20th century Neo-Classical architecture. There includes a beautiful old theater building not far from the Great Synagogue in the North East quadrants.

Other structures of note include the Municipal Commons, the Hotel Slovan, The Library of the Pilsen Region and Postal Office along with old fountains and a old water pump.

Do make sure to check out the Museum of West Bohemia, detailing the history of this part of the Czech Republic.

Two of the most impressive structures on the east side include a beautiful Franciscan Monastery and the Hotel Continental with its iconic sign.

Near the eastern section of the park, you will find a bust of František Křižík, an inventor and engineer known for his work in the field of electricity and often compared to Thomas Edison. He is best known for the invention of the Plzen Lamp but also created the first electromobiles in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and created signaling devices for trains among other things.

Conclusion

Eighty Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall (I polished a few along the way…) and if you don’t have a few while in the city, I don’t quite know what to make of you! Beer has long been part of the city’s culture and so it will remain as long as their are people willing to fill their cups. Enjoy this beautiful city for what it is, an escape to a perfect medieval city that just so happens to have a delectable brewery.