The beginnings of Litomysl go back to about the end of the 10
th century. In 1259 it was granted a town privilegium. The history of the town is really rich and the town was rebuilt several times.
Fires often caused much damage to Litomysl, especially the major ones of 1775 and 1814, a catastrophic flood 1781 also affacted the town significantly. The houses destroyed by these natural disasters were reconstructed in Late Baroque style and from the beginning of the 19
th century in Empire style.
In 1824 was born in Litomysl Bedrich Smetana, one of the pillars of Czech music. This is the reason for the annual holding of the International Opera Festival Smetana's Litomysl - after the Prague Spring the second oldest musical festival organised in the Czech Republic. Its tradition dates back to 1949.
The festival is an open scene for presentation of beautiful music of various genres - next to operas being the backbone of drama theory,
there are vocal and instrumental, symphonic works as well as folk songs and chamber music presented. Regular guests of
the festival include the top home ensembles, bodies and soloists of the European and international musical scene.
Another tourists' place of interest is
Litomysl castle. The construction of the castle was finished in 1582. The castle considered to be an architectonical pearl is usually ranked among Renaissance castles of the so-called Moravian type. It attracts your attention primarily by its graffiti.
The graffiti were reconstructed in the 70's by top Czech painters and sculptors such as Vaclav Bostik and Olbram Zoubek. In the area of the castle there is a unique and special small theatre with an auditorium for 150 people.
In the 80's the castle was the venue of filming
Milos Forman's film "Amadeus". In 1994 a negotiation of seven Central -European presidents took place in the castle and a year later the castle was visited by the Spanish Royal couple.
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