Dacice

Sugar in the early nineteenth century came in hard loaves that had to be broken with tongs and a hammer, a job that took strength and occasionally cost fingers. At the Dacice refinery, the manager Jakub Krystof Rad was persuaded by his wife Juliana, who had cut herself, to find something better; he designed a press that produced small pressed cubes, made the first batch in January 1843, and was granted a five-year privilege for the invention. The refinery is gone but the town marks it with a sugar-cube monument in the square, an exhibition in the museum and an annual sugar festival. Dacice also has a chateau with an Empire interior, an arcaded square and a Franciscan monastery. It is a small town and the sugar cube is the reason it appears in every Czech list of national inventions.

What you actually see

• The sugar cube's birthplace - first pressed at the local refinery in 1843.
• A cube monument - a stone block in the town square marking it.
• A chateau with Empire rooms - and an arcaded square around it.
• A museum exhibition - on Rad, the press and the refinery.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The refinery no longer exists - the story is told in a museum room and a monument. The town is very small. Museum and chateau close on Mondays and keep short winter hours.

Nearby

Telc is fifteen kilometres north-east; Slavonice is south.