Klatovy is a historic town and center of religious worship in South Bohemia. In the local church there is a famous painting of the Mother of God from which bloody tears flowed in the 17th century. There is also a nicely preserved market square with tenement houses and several museums.
The greatest period of the city's development took place in the Middle Ages. Klatovy was then a thriving commercial center and one of the richest Czech cities. The golden age was interrupted by the Thirty Years' War and its destruction, and the town gained importance again only in the 19th century due to the development of industry and the construction of a railway line.
The city center has retained its medieval urban layout, the most valuable monument of which is the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Inside, you can see a painting of the Virgin Mary, which was brought here in the 17th century. The painting was supposed to cry tears of blood, and since then this temple is a famous sanctuary in the vicinity.
In the 17th century, the Jesuits came to Klatovy and built the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Ignatius. Other former monastic buildings, which today are used as public buildings, also come from that time. Among the attractions of Klatovy are two city towers, the late-Gothic Black Tower, from the top of which you can see the panorama of the city and its surroundings, and the baroque White Tower. Within the old town, attention is also drawn to the baroque Pharmacy in White Unicorn, where the Pharmacy Museum is located.
