The Daily Telegraph - Destinations for 2015: Plzen, Czech Republic
December 27, 2014

Plzen is known for its brewery, but as European Capital of Culture in 2015, there will be a whole lot more to this Czech Republic town, says Michelle Jana Chan.

Why?

Most visitors who come to the cobbled streets of this Czech city are here for the beer.

Home to the Pilsner Urquell brewery, Plzen delivers arguably the best brew in the world, a bottom-fermented lager using a methodology imitated worldwide, although the secret ingredients are said to be local hops and the town’s soft water.

Next year there will be another compelling reason to visit the city when Plzen becomes European Capital of Culture (alongside Mons, in Belgium).

Celebrations kick off on January 17 with the sounding of four church bells reinstated in the gothic St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral, more than 70 years after the Nazis melted them down.

The city’s main square will be transformed into a circus venue with live music, acrobatics and the tight-rope walking antics of Swiss daredevil David Dimitri.

Throughout the year there will be hundreds of performances, from theatre, to music, to art exhibitions, as well as Le Cirque Nouveau bringing together some of the world’s leading new circus ensembles. In the summer the Nine Weeks of Baroque festival arrives, with concerts performed in the city’s Baroque monuments.

Disused industrial premises will also become creative venues: a former power station of the Pilsner Urquell brewery is due to host an exhibition of contemporary European design.

Meanwhile, a new arts space, the Nové Divadlo, is the first prominent theatre to be built in the Czech Republic since the collapse of communism: 26 premieres are planned. For more information, go to plzen2015.cz/en.