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The oldest mention of Nová Paka’s existence is from 1357. In 1454 king Ladislav granted the town the coat of arms with a piece of laurel-wreath. The town itself held historically important annual markets, the fi rst of which occurred in 1478. These markets, together with fairs and pilgrimages, brought substantial wealth to the town. The townsmen of Nová Paka were primarily small farmers, striving for little crops, but at the same time almost everybody made their living as craftsmen and traders. The most common crafts and trades were shoemaking, pottery, production of gingerbread, and most importantly, weaving, colouring and dying, blueprint and hosiery.
For the town built predominantly out of wooden buildings, the main danger was fi re. The town’s chronicle mentions the biggest fi res in 1563, 1643, 1666, 1710, 1827 and 1844. The town, framed with small red-soil patches, spans the foothills of the Krkonoše mountains and is famous for precious stones, mediumistic paintings and as being the hometown of important persons. In Nová Paka the visitors can admire three architectural gems: the Pavlánský monastery from the Baroque period, a wooden Greek Catholic church transported from Carpathian Ruthenia, and the neo-Renaissance Suchardův House, which is permanently exhibiting things from the local area. The treasure house – a museum of precious stones – exhibits extensive collections of agates, jaspers, amethysts and crystals. The visitors can also walk through the remains of fossilized Palaeozoic forest or drink from the fountain on the main square, from which “magical” water is said to spring
