VIRTUAL TOUR OF BEROUN

The Bear Reserve

Beroun For Children Sights and Attractions Nature Attractions
A bear is one of the symbols of the town and since 2000 the bear reserve has been inhabited by three bears from a popular TV series. The bears brothers called Vojta, Kuba and Matěj were born on 13 January 2000 in Český Krumlov to Kateřina and Vok. Their mother refused to nurse them. They were adopted by a bear leader and then by film director Václav Chaloupek, who made a popular TV series called Méďové with them. In September 2000 they moved to a newly built reserve in Beroun. Every year, a birthday party is held at the bear reserve on 13 January with the film director Václav Chaloupek as a regular guest. 
In 2015, during the 750 aniversary of Beroun foundation, the bears got their own ID licences for their 15th birthday. Today, only one bear can be seen in the reserve - Kuba. The smallest bear Vojta died on 13 April 2016 and Matěj on 18 April 2023.

You can contribute towards the costs of keeping the bears in the money box placed by the reserve or to a special account 51-4852560217/0100.
The bear reserve is freely accessible all-year-round. There is a stall sellings snacks and drinks and a childrens playground.
You can visit a nearby observation tower with a stunning view of Beroun. https://www.mesto-beroun.cz/pro-turisty/tipy-na-volny-cas/ Coordinates: 49.9632169, 14.0660711

The Museum of Beroun Pottery

Beroun Sights and Attractions Museums & Galleries
The museum is located in the Reinovský House. It represents a preserved type of housing for poor city inhabitants, who gradually developed the field by the city walls from the 16th century. The house was built around 1720. It gained its present appearance after the adaptations carried out after 1810.

Opened in 2015, this multifunctional museum complex offers permanent exhibitions dedicated to the unique Renaissance pottery from Beroun and the history of the local crafts. It is also used for other exhibitions and fairs, lectures, and chamber concerts. The museum has its own pottery workshop with a pottery wheel and kiln where visitors, including children, can try their hand at working with a clay in year-round courses or one-day workshop events led by experienced pottery artists.
The workshop preserves the tradition of Beroun pottery craftsmship by using the long forgotten old technics typical for the 16th and 17th centuries. The production of the significant unique pottery has returned to its place of origin - the historic centre of Beroun. http://www.muzeumberounskekeramiky.cz/ Address: Zámečnická 14, Beroun

The Berounka River

Beroun Sights and Attractions Nature Attractions
The Berounka river is formed by the confluence of the Mže and Radbuza. It is 130 km long and joins the Vltava in Lahovice. The original name of the river was Mže. Kosmas in his chronicle calls it the Msa or the Misa. It was the Pilsner memorialist Jan Tanner who called it the Berounka for the first time. The establishment and spreading of the name Berounka was mostly contributed to by the large map of Bohemia by J. K. Müller dated 1720. The river has brought numerous floods to Beroun. The first detailed reports and descriptions of floods - catastrophes that still afflict Beroun to this day, date back to the 17th century. The most disastrous great water hit Beroun in 1872. It flooded three-quarters of the town, inflicting tremendous damage. The water level on the square is indicated by a cast iron tablet situated on Jenštejn House. The last great water ravaged the city in August 2002. Part of the city including the square were flooded with water. The damage was estimated at 600 milion Czech Crowns. The calm river, on the other hand, was and still continues to be a paradise for anglers and also for water sportsmen.

A modern mobile weir over the Berounka river was built in 2010-2011. It is situated on the site of an old weir. The current weir is 2,5 m high and 90 metres wide. The weir is able to control the water level before the weir, and thus retain or accelerate the water flow.
The waterworks are part of the municipal flood control measures.

There is a small hydro power plant and a fish pass on the left bank near the weir. A small hydro power plant was built together with the weir. Four Kaplan turbines produce 720 kW. The 130 metre long fish pass is a natural type of pass and enables aquatic animals to migrate in both directions.

Městská Hora Hill

Beroun Sights and Attractions Nature Attractions
Městská hora (Town Mountain) is located in the centreof the town. Mighty advanced fortifications were built in the Middle Age on a hill with a height of 291 m above sea level. It used to be called the Priest Mouuntain (Kněží hora) according to the large area of land owned by the church. Thanks to the care provided by the Decoration Society and the Czech Tourist Club starting in the 1880s, the Town Mountain was gradually converted into a forest park. A fifteen-metre reinforced concrete gazebo was built in 1936 over the municipal water conduit reservoir. In 2000, the city built a bear yard on Town Mountain, in which it breeds three of its heraldic animals. Nowadays, there is only one of them left -  Kuba - the two bears sadly died. Vojta in 2016 and Matěj in 2023.
The peaceful woodland park offers two childrens´ playgrounds and a stall selling refreshment.

Museum of the Czech Karst

Beroun Sights and Attractions Museums & Galleries
The museum is located in the Jenštejnský and Salátovský houses, the most significant houses on the Husovo square.

The Jenštejn House is one of the historically oldest and architecturally most precious burgher´s houses in Beroun. At first glance it attracts by its Renaissance portal made of red limestone with the Latin sign: Benedic Domine Domum istam et omnes habitantes in ea. Henricus Cžižek de Genstein Gratae posteritati. Anno Domini 1612. (Lord bless this house and all the people staying inside. Jindřich Čížek of Jenštejn to his dear descendants. Anno Domini 1612)
It gained its Baroque appearance through its reconstruction after the town fire in 1735. The house with an arched passage to Slapská Street intervenes on the left side. 

The Salátovský House was bought by the rich burgher of Beroun Alžběta Salátová in 1643, at the time also owner of the neighbouring Jenštejn house. After a reconstruction following the town fire in 1735, the the house received a low Baroque gable over a high attico with two rectangular windows. A part of the gable collapsed in a storm in 1967 and subsequent repairs changed the appearance of the gable. In terms of the construction adaptations in the late 1990s, Salátovský House was interconnected with Jenštejn House.

The Museum of the Czech Karst offers permanent exhhibitions such as The History of Crafts in Beroun, 18th and 19th Century Arms in the Beroun Region, Living Nature and Caves of the Czech Karst, short terms s exhibitions and an outdoor exhibition of Barrandien Geopark.
The interior of the Pilsen Gate offers a permanent exhibition on the history and architecture of the gate and the entire fortification system, and a breath-taking view from the gate ambit. http://muzeum-beroun.cz/ Address: Husovo náměstí 87, Beroun