Bitva na Vítkově
Czechia
The short, steep climb up Vítkov hill rewards riders with one of Prague's best panoramas, and a colossal bronze horseman waiting at the top. On 14 July 1420, a few hundred of Jan Žižka's Hussites, dug into timber-and-clay ramparts on this steep-sided ridge, routed a crusader cavalry force sent by King Sigismund, trapping the retreating knights against the cliff above the Vltava; it was the war's decisive turning point, fought through a vineyard planted decades earlier by Charles IV. The hill was renamed Žižkov in the victors' honor. It's now crowned by the National Monument, built 1928–38 to commemorate WWI Czechoslovak legionaries, and by Bohumil Kafka's 9-metre, 16.5-tonne equestrian statue of Žižka, one of the largest bronze horse-and-rider statues on earth, unveiled on the battle's 530th anniversary in 1950. Beneath it lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, holding remains from Zborov (1917) and the Dukla Pass (1944).
Loading rider experiences…