Italian Court Locations

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Originally, it was a fortified castle from the 13th century overseeing the safety of miners and the storage of mined material. However, over time the character of the building changed and instead of a fortress, it began to perform a more lavish and representative function, although it was still the best guarded place in Kuttenberg.
Massive reconstruction began under Wenceslas II, who centralised the production of coins, until now scattered throughout the kingdom, and started the minting of the Prague groschen, which was initially helped by the famous mint masters from Florence (the north of Italy was called ‘Vlachy’, hence the ‘Vlašský Dvůr’). The court thus became the equivalent of a central bank.
Under Wenceslas IV, the mint underwent massive palace-style rebuilding and a chapel was added, but its purpose and exclusivity in terms of producing ‘hard currency’ remained. From the very beginning, high-quality coins of up to 94% pure silver content were minted here and quickly became a European stable currency.
Today, ‘Vlašský dvůr’ is registered as a National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic and houses a museum. The rich wall paintings of the court no longer exist, nor are there any preserved originals. This detail is rather, artistic license on our part.

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