Czech Republic Guide
Central Bohemia
Kolín
In addition to its railway sidings and industrial plants, KOLÍN ( 
www.kolin.cz ) – 15km southeast of Poděbrady up the Labe – has actually managed to preserve its central medieval core. One of numerous towns in Bohemia founded by German colonists in the thirteenth century, its streets are laid out in chessboard fashion. The central, cobbled Karlovo náměstí is a picture-perfect main square, with an imposing Renaissance radnice covered in sgraffito and decorated with four rose-coloured panels from the nineteenth century, and four unusual Baroque gables on the west side.