Spilberk Castle

Spilberk was founded in the thirteenth century as a royal castle above Brno and turned in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries into a baroque bastioned fortress, which held against the Swedes in 1645 when the rest of Moravia had fallen. Its casemates - vaulted corridors and cells inside the ramparts - were converted from 1783 into a prison, and Joseph II's decision to use them for the harshest category of confinement gave Spilberk a reputation across the Habsburg lands; Italian carbonari including Silvio Pellico were held here in the 1820s and Pellico's memoir made the name known across Europe. The prison closed in 1855. The castle now holds the Brno city museum, with the casemates open, and the lookout tower gives the widest view over the city. The hill around it is a public park with wooded paths.

History

Building of Špilberk began in the first half of the 13th century under the Přemyslid kings and was completed by Ottokar II; in the mid-14th century it was the seat of the Moravian margraves. The town of Brno bought it in 1560 and made it a municipal fortress, its bastions helped Brno hold off the Swedes in the Thirty Years' War, and the successful defence led to further fortification. It also served as a prison: after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 leading Moravian rebels were held here, the adventurer-soldier Franz von der Trenck died here on 4 October 1749, French revolutionaries captured in the coalition wars and the Hungarian Jacobins of Ferenc Kazinczy followed, and from 1822 Italian Carbonari filled cells built for "state prisoners", the poet Silvio Pellico making the prison famous across Europe with his book My Prisons after eight years here. Nearly 200 Polish insurgents of the Kraków Uprising of 1846 were the last large group, Emperor Franz Joseph I dissolved the prison in 1855, and the buildings became barracks for the next hundred years, until the army left in 1959 (Wikipedia, Špilberk Castle).

Highlights

• The casemates - vaulted corridors and cells inside the ramparts, open to walk.
• A baroque bastioned fortress - which held out against the Swedes in 1645.
• The Brno city museum - collections in the upper buildings.
• The best view of Brno - from the lookout tower on the hill.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Before you go

The casemates are cold and dim. Museum sections have separate tickets and close on Mondays. The climb from the city is steep. Winter opening is reduced.

Nearby

The cathedral on Petrov and the old town are below.

Key facts