Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/229

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(Aussig-Teplitz R.) for Most (Brüx) and by the train from Most to Prague.

The geological formation of the country around Most is very interesting, some of the hills are largely composed of basalt and phonolite and rise abruptly to a considerable height. The town possesses a fine Gothic church built in 1517, by the renowned Bohemian architect Beneš z Loun (1454–1534). The pews th oughout the building are all beautifully carved.

The adjacent pits produce a brown coal used in the local industries which are chiefly concerned with sugar making, brewing and distilling. This brown coal is largely used all over the country and exported in great quantities to Germany.

The next town calling for special notice is Louny, a place of historic note on the right bank of the Oharka. Its chief buildings are, the Church of St. Nicolas’ of Gothic design by Beneš z Loun, St. Mary’s and St. Peter’s. The old town gate to Žatec is in a good state of preservation. The town Louny is the birth-place of the great Bohemian poet Jaroslav Vrchlický.

It is an easy trip by railway to Ročov an Augustinian monastery attached to which there is a very fine Church.

Continuing our journey, we pass through a fertile country with great hop-fields and see on the left Peruc with its Castle, historic fountain and ancient oaks. 93 km farther and we reach Slaný, the place which in olden time was sole source of the country’s salt supply. The buildings most worthy of notice are; the decanal church of St.Gothard, founded in the 13 th. century, having a baptismal font (1519) St. Laurence’s chapel, a 14 th. century building, the town-hal, a structure of the 18 th. century, and a Franciscan Monastery of the 17 th.

Not far from the town there was erected in 1664, a sepulchre in imitation of the Holy sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Near to Kovary on the ridge of a slope, stands the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, founded by Prince Spytihněv I., 1055—1061, a round structure in roman style, and occupies the site on which formerly stood Budeč the school attended by Wenceslaus Patron Saint. Farther on through the valley of the Zákolanský brook we catch

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