17th century – Page 4 – The Unexpected Traveller

A photo of bloody scrawls on the facade - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The strange case of Amsterdam’s House of the Blood Stains

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2018-05-142022-10-20
Posted in History

In the eastern part of Amsterdam's city centre, there is a building which has unsightly scrawls on its facade. It's as if there was graffiti that faded over time. Not everyone knows these scrawls are in blood. This is the House of Blood Stains.

Puck’s castle

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2018-02-262020-10-12
Posted in Legends

It was late morning when Francois, Helene and I, after visiting two other historical places around Dublin, stopped to take a look at the rundown Puck’s Castle.

The Possessed Fairy Tale Farmhouse

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2018-02-122022-01-14
Posted in Legends

If a building is abandoned for a long enough time, it doesn’t take long before stories about hauntings begin to emerge. In Czechia, the Fairy Tale Farmhouse has attracted a few

A photo of one of the first postal sledges - Nymburk, Czechia

Loučeň Castle

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-11-272024-05-3
Posted in History

Most stately homes and castles in Czechia close for the winter months. I suppose not many people enjoy traipsing around an unheated building when it’s -20 C outside. Loučeň castle is

A photo of the Devil's Corbel - Prague, Czechia

Immortalising the Devil

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-11-132022-11-20
Posted in Scary

People decorate their houses with different things - statues, sculptures, art; that sort of thing. It isn't often that I see decorations related to devils, but one building in Prague is the exception.

The Mansion that thinks it’s a Castle

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-08-282020-10-7
Posted in History

About an hour’s drive from Prague, you can discover the grandly named Mnichovo Hradiště castle. I say “grandly named” because it is nothing more than a mansion rather than a

A photo of Prague's restored Marian column - Prague, Czechia

Prague’s Marian Column

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-08-72022-10-20
Posted in History

Prague’s Old Town Square used to contain one of the largest sundials I’ve ever heard of. Judging by reports in the local news, it just might be rebuilt too. And

The Church of Our Lady of Tyn - Prague, Czechia

Prague executed 27 noblemen

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-02-272022-12-28
Posted in History

Like all medieval cities, Prague had its fair share of brutality and executions. One particular execution of 27 noblemen is faithfully recorded in the paving of the Old Town Square.

A map of the fortified city of Brno at the time of the siege - Brno, Czechia

The Bells that Changed the Future

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2017-02-62024-09-4
Posted in History

The Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul watches over the city of Brno in Czechia. Its towers are a fine example of Gothic Revival designs1. The bells within the

The Cartouche of the Two Suns - Prague, Czechia

The Two Suns of Prague

Posted by Antoine P Borg
Posted on 2016-12-192022-11-20
Posted in Legends

An enigmatic cartouche of two suns watches you as you walk up to Prague’s famous Castle complex. On either end of the suns, two faces in profile look in opposite directions;

Tag: 17th century