47 Krupka Gate

Like every medieval town, Teplice once had town walls, and like most of them, they were pulled down during the 19th century. In Teplice, only a few local names still recall them, and the best known of these is the little street U Krupské brány.

The fortifications of Teplice were not at all massive: they consisted of a wall one metre thick and no more than 3 metres high. Four gates connected the town with the surrounding area: the Spa Gate in the south-east, the Chateau or Bílina Gate in the west, the Forest Gate in the north-west, and the Krupka or Dresden Gate in the north-east.

For the growing town, the space enclosed by the walls began to be too tight. The first to fall was the Spa Gate, after the fire of 1793, which made it possible for Spa Square to develop. The Bílina Gate was pulled down in 1810, and the Krupka Gate 16 years later. The last one, the Forest Gate, was removed in 1846. The Bílina Gate made room for the rebuilding of the Officials’ House. Where the Krupka Gate had stood, Rudolfovo náměstí (Rudolf Square) was created, which has since given way to the crossroads by the theatre.

Krupská Street, which linked the Krupka Gate with Market Square (today’s Freedom Square), was a busy thoroughfare in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and also after the gates were removed and the walls pulled down. It was here that the first Teplice department store, Jepa, opened in 1932. Under the name Krušnohor, it served until the 1980s.

Krupská Street is still bustling today: it is essentially the only real pedestrian zone with shops and cafés in the whole town.