Italian Court

Did You Know?

• The building is depicted in the video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, set in the Kingdom of Bohemia during the 15th century.
• Inside the authentic cellars is the museum 'Unveiling of the mysterious face of Kutná Hora.'

History

For centuries, the Italian Court was the heart of the state's financial power. It held the royal mint and was where the king stayed when he came to inspect the silver mines at Kutná Hora. The building began as a late 13th-century town castle, a secure vault for silver ore and a key part of the town's defenses. Moats kept it separate from the town; these survive today as cellars in the lower section, and the water also helped shield the castle from fire. Under King Wenceslas II, all the separate mints were moved here, and the unified Prague groschen was struck. The castle was fully rebuilt in the 14th century, with the busiest construction at the end under Wenceslas IV, done by Peter Parler's workshop. The mint and the master minter's office ended after the great fire of 1770, and the town hall then moved into the Italian Court.