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.

History

A fortified settlement of the Přemyslids, with a chapel of Our Lady, first stood on the promontory; in the first half of the 13th century it was rebuilt as a Gothic castle guarding the southern border of their lands, and a new inner ward and late Gothic defences followed in the 14th century. The Lords of Bítov owned it for four centuries and kept strengthening it. After a Baroque remodelling it took its present form early in the 19th century under the Counts of Daun, descendants of the field marshal, who rebuilt it in the Romantic spirit: the richly decorated state rooms were made between 1811 and 1845 to proposals by Anton Schuler, and the Viennese architect Anton Rucker remodelled the church of the Assumption, keeping its Gothic furnishings. The castle was thoroughly refurbished at the end of the 20th century (Wikipedia, Bítov Castle).

Highlights

• 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.

What to expect

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.

Key facts