At the beginning I must honestly confess that very short notice on one quite known duranistic server: „Out of My Mind video is filmed in a castle near Prague“ provoked me to write this article. Beacuse I am admirer of ancient Czech towns I was a bit upset, because the town where this video arise is the jewel of Czech republic- Cesky Krumlov.

I visited this beautiful town in the year 2000 for the first time and I was sure I will come back again with my family at least once. This dream came true in the last August week of this year.

Český Krumlov is settled near Ceske Budejovice, metropolis of south Bohemia. It is situated on the bank of Vltava river. The castle of Cesky Krumlov is towering above town full of picturesque houses. That castle which happened to be the scene to the video for the song Out of My Mind. Duran Duran visited Czech republic between 9th and 14th of February 1997. During this time they created here in this historical location one of the most interesting video in their history.

I will try to make a short excursion for you. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside of the castle, so you could see interior on the postcard above. It is pleasure for me to show you all places in the castle which I have visited and where filming of the mentioned video took place.

I will try to attach my private pictures of the castle to the picures from video. It´s a pity that castle guides are mostly students, because they are changing often and they did not know anything at all about the visit of Duran Duran.

Our visit we start on the first courtyard. Black building on its left side will capture your attention on the first sight. There is a huge library inside of this building and a lot of scenes of mentioned video took part among its bookshelves. Unfortunately The Library is not open for the public at the present.

You could get from the first courtyard to the second one through the corridor where masked Simon saged under the load of wood. There is the beginning of two biggest view traces. Let me stop here to explain a bit the history of the castle. The original Gothic castle was founded by the Lords of Krumlov some time before 1250. They represented a branch of powerful family of the Witigonen. When the Lords of Krumlov died out in 1302, their relatives the Rosenbergs inherited the castle.The Rosenbergs family had their seat there up till 1602. In this year the Emperor Rudolf II. von Habsburgs bought the Krumlov dominion from the last of the Rosenbergs- well known Peter Vok . The Habsburgs owned the castle till 1622 when the Emperor Ferdinand II. donated it to the Prince Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg who was the representative of an Austrian dynasty.

There is a chapel at the beggining of the first view trace. This trace is about the medieval history of the castle Cesky Krumlov.

The trace starts at this point so you have time enough watch the precher´s place on the right side where Simon, Nick and Warren declined from in the mentioned video. After that the way through history continues in the beautiful furnished Renaissance apartments which create scene for the biggest part of the video Out of My Mind. Unfortunatly I was caught with my camera at the beginning of the view and then I was under the control of the guard till the end. I could forget the shooting.

When you will leave the building at the end of the view trace I. you are on the third courtyard. You can go on this way. The scenes with Simon have been shooting here as well.

At this place I would like to thank you to the all warm inhabitants of this fantastic town. There is a clean everywhere, perfect service and they welcome you with the smile in cafes. The Prague can not compare to Cesky Krumlov at least at this point.

From the corridor you will get to the stony bridge „Na plášti“, from which you have a wonderful view to the whole historical town and the river Vltava. There have been arranged the scene with Nick in wig and lady´s outfit on that bridge.The windows above the bridge belongs to the long wood tunnel- corridor, which connects castle with baroque theatre.

The scenes what you can see below on the last picture from the video Out of my mind have beed shooted in this tunnel. You can see the tunnel on the view trace II. which is the excursion to the 19th century. It belonged to the Schwarzenbergs family which is still alive in Czech republic. They have been the last owners of the castle.

Except the castle and the close town you must see beautiful gardens which belong to the castle. There you will find well- known „turning“ auditorium. If you decide to visit this county you should know that whole surrounding country is full of historical monuments, which you do not find anywhere else. Because of all of these facts my opinion is that in future you find in guidebooks following information : „Prague is the city near to Český Krumlov“.