The special feature of the Renaissance castle in Litomysl is the faҫade, the complete outside is decorated with thousands of rectangular sgraffiti. The images are different from each other - fruits, animals, people, leaves - and we had great fun identifying our favourites (the photo shows one of mine). The faҫade is largely uniform and only the south wing is interrupted by arcades at the top floor. The courtyard has three-storey arcades at three sides and on the northern wall are large sgraffiti depicting ancient and biblical scenes.

At the time of our visit the area between the castle and the outbuildings was inaccessible due to construction works (also the nearby cathedral). But as we stood at the fence and tried to view the sgraffiti decorations, a construction engineer became aware of us. We told him that we came 500 km from Austria to visit the castle. Then he allowed us to go in and we could view the castle from all sides.

Sure, Litomysl is just one among many castles on the WH list, but I liked its unusual exterior: the sgraffiti, the Renaissance gables and the arcades in the courtyard.