THE UPPER SQUARE (HORNÍ NÁMĚSTÍ)

The "upper square" is the center of the city, the square where all the nice pedestrian streets inevitably end. It is also the oldest square in the city, as the dates of construction of the surrounding buildings testify. It is the starting and ending point of all your walks in the city and is surrounded by beautiful mansions, including the richly decorated Edelmann Palace and the Petras and Salm Palaces, all of which bear witness to Olomouc's Baroque architectural élan. As in the Lower Square, monumental fountains dot three sides: Caesar's Fountain (1724, by Schuberger) is the most monumental in the square, with the arms of Moravia and Lower Austria, Caesar, the gods of the Danube and the Moravian River, and a dog symbolizing Olomouc's fidelity to the emperor; Hercules Fountain (1688, by M. Mandík) is the oldest, with the checkered eagle, the symbol of Olomouc, and the Arion Fountain (2002, by I. Theimer) is the most recent. It represents Arion, the Greek singer thrown into the water by thieves and saved by a dolphin. But the highlight of the square is of course the Holy Trinity Column, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so imposing that it houses a small chapel in its base. The Place Haute is a great place for festive gatherings, especially at the end of the year when dozens of Christmas market stalls invade the smallest free space.