7 Best Sights in Moravia, Czech Republic

The late Romanesque and early Gothic St. Procopius Basilica remains true to its original layout from 1260. New sections were added as recently as the 1950s, but the oldest parts are easy to spot. Look for a very heavy style, with lots of stone and few windows. Two baroque towers at the front were added in the early 1700s by architect F. M. Kaňka. One of the oldest sections is the crypt, with Romanesque pillars and arches. The château next door has been fully renovated and houses the Vysočina Museum Třebíč.

Best admired from a distance, the silhouette of slim neo-Gothic twin spires—added in the 20th century—give the cathedral a touch of Gothic dignity. Up close, the interior is light and tasteful but hardly mind-blowing. The treasury and tower can be visited for a fee. The crypt can be visited on request if it is closed. This is the church pictured on the face of the 10 Kč coin.

Between the main square and this cathedral lies a peaceful neighborhood given over to huge buildings, mostly belonging either to the university or the archbishop. The church itself is impressive, but its Gothic appearance comes only from a 19th-century makeover. A shrine has an ornate case with the relics of St. Jan Sarkander, a 17th-century priest who was tortured. A plaque marks the fact that Pope John Paul II celebrated mass there in 1995. The crypt, which has erratic hours depending on exhibitions, has a marble box with the heart of an archduke who otherwise is buried in Vienna. Some ecclesiastical treasures are also on display.

A tiny street leading off the main square takes you to the 160-foot Romanesque tower of the Church of the Holy Spirit, a solid tower finished off in conical gray peaks. This is the oldest standing structure in Telč, dating to the first quarter of the 13th century. The interior, however, is a confused hodgepodge, as the style was fiddled with repeatedly, first in a late-Gothic makeover and then refashioned again because of fire damage.

In the summer months, the tower is open for a small entrance fee.

A small but singular museum devoted to the culture of the Roma, as Gypsies prefer to be called, is halfway between Brno's historical center and the high-rise housing projects. To foster cross-cultural understanding (as Roma people are often the victims of discrimination), this museum is dedicated to their culture and history. Exhibits deal with traditional occupations, dress, and lifestyles. A study room has documents and photographs.

The Rear Synagogue has an exhibition of Jewish religious items and a wooden model of the ghetto as it was in the 1800s. A touch screen attached to the model provides audio information about the various buildings, with English as an option. Guided tours to the synagogue are available and include a tour of the house of Seligmann Bauer.

Next to the Cathedral of St. Wenceslas is a complex of buildings that for centuries were the center of the archdiocese. The oldest, commonly called Palác Přemyslovců (Přemyslid Palace), houses a museum where you can see early-16th-century wall paintings decorating the Gothic cloisters and, upstairs, a wonderful series of Romanesque windows and displays of sculpted stonework fragments. This part of the building was used as a schoolroom some 700 years ago, and you can still make out drawings of animals engraved on the walls by young vandals.