Audioguides Brandys nad Labem-Stara Boleslav

The hyphenated name tells you everything about how this place came to exist. Brandys nad Labem and Stara Boleslav were separate towns that merged in 1960 but have never really blended into a single character. Stara Boleslav is older and carries a particular weight: on September 28, 935, Prince Boleslaus I killed his brother Vaclav, the Christian duke who would be venerated as Saint Wenceslaus, patron saint of Bohemia. The exact site of the murder is marked within the town, and Stara Boleslav has functioned as Bohemia's oldest pilgrimage destination ever since, drawing pilgrims to the Basilica of St Wenceslaus and to a small icon of the Virgin Mary that is considered miraculous.

Brandys nad Labem tells a different kind of story.

The castle there, built above the Elbe River, became one of the most important Habsburg residences in Bohemia from 1547 onwards, visited by every Habsburg monarch between then and 1918. Ferdinand I, Rudolf II, and Maria Theresa all stayed here, which gave the town a connection to the highest levels of European power that left Renaissance and Baroque architectural imprints on the buildings along the river. Today both towns sit 12 kilometres northeast of Prague's city center, close enough for a day trip but distinct enough in their historical layers that the journey repays careful attention.