Hukvaldy

Hukvaldy castle is one of the largest in Moravia, spread along a ridge with several wards, gates and a keep, founded in the thirteenth century and held for centuries by the bishops of Olomouc; it burned in 1762 and has been ruin since. Around it lies a game park of about four hundred hectares, enclosed since the eighteenth century, with fallow deer and mouflon and old beech trees, and the walk up to the castle goes through it. Leos Janacek was born in the village in 1854, in the schoolhouse where his father taught, and returned throughout his life, buying a cottage here in 1921 and composing in it - The Cunning Little Vixen came directly out of this landscape and a bronze vixen stands in the park. The birthplace and the cottage are both museums, and a Janacek music festival is held here each summer.

What you actually see

• A large ridge-top ruin - several wards and gates along the hill.
• A four-hundred-hectare game park - fallow deer and mouflon under old beeches.
• Janacek's birthplace and cottage - both museums in the village.
• The Vixen's landscape - the forest that produced the opera, with a bronze vixen in it.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The castle is a roofless ruin, seasonal, with a steady climb through the park. The two Janacek museums keep separate limited hours. Festival dates fill the village.

Nearby

Lysa hora and the Beskydy are south; Ostrava is north.