Svojanov Castle

Svojanov was built in the thirteenth century on a rock spur above the Kretinka to guard the old road between Bohemia and Moravia, and it kept its medieval outline through later centuries: a keep, a palace, a gate and a curtain following the rock. In the 1810s the owner Simon Adam Hoffmann added something unexpected inside those walls - a Empire-style residential building known as the Knight's House, plastered and pedimented, standing directly against the Gothic masonry, so the two periods sit against each other in one courtyard. The castle passed to the town of Policka in 1910 and is still municipally owned, which is unusual. There is an exhibition, a chapel, and a long-standing programme of concerts and theatre in the courtyard through the summer. The village below is tiny and the valley around it is walked.

What you actually see

• A medieval outline on a spur - keep, palace and gate following the rock.
• An Empire house inside the walls - the Knight's House of the 1810s against Gothic masonry.
• Municipal ownership since 1910 - held by the town of Policka.
• Summer concerts - a long-running programme in the courtyard.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only, seasonal, closed in winter. Event days change the access and ticketing. The village is very small with almost no services. Public transport is thin.

Nearby

Policka and its walled old town are twelve kilometres north.