From its colorful Old Town square to its sumptuous Art Nouveau facades, Prague offers plenty to see and do. But if you’re willing to leave the city and explore the nearby Bohemian countryside, you’ll be rewarded with extraordinary scenery, moving sights, and one very bone-chilling church.
Thirty miles south of Prague is Konopiště Castle, the lavish residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne. The castle’s interior dates from about 1900, when Franz Ferdinand moved in. Money was no object as the archduke turned his castle into a palace with all the latest comforts: As one of the first castles in Europe to have an elevator, a shower with hot and cold running water, and even a newfangled flush toilet, Konopiště shows “modern” living around the year 1900.
