Bitov Castle

Bitov sits on a spur in a tight meander of the Zeletavka above the upper arms of the Vranov reservoir, a castle founded in the eleventh century and rebuilt in the nineteenth for the Daun family in a romantic Gothic manner. Its collections come mostly from its last private owner, Baron Jiri Haas von Hasenfels, who died in 1945 and whose interests were unusual: he kept a private menagerie, bred dogs on a large scale and had a taxidermist prepare them when they died, so the castle now displays a room of some fifty stuffed dogs of various breeds, along with other mounted animals, said to be among the largest such collections in Europe. There is also a substantial armoury, a collection of clocks and a picture gallery, plus the state rooms. The setting above the water and the walking country of the Podyji make the trip.

What you actually see

• A room of stuffed dogs - about fifty of them, from the last owner's kennels.
• A romantic Gothic rebuild - the nineteenth-century Daun remodelling.
• An armoury and clocks - alongside the picture gallery and state rooms.
• A spur above the reservoir - in a tight meander of the Zeletavka.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only, seasonal, with several routes. The taxidermy collection is exactly what it sounds like and not to everyone's taste. The village is small with limited parking in season.

Nearby

Vranov chateau is downstream; Podyji National Park is south-east.