Uherske Hradiste

Uherske Hradiste was founded in 1257 on an island in the Morava as a royal fortress town and is now the main town of Slovacko, the ethnographic region of south-eastern Moravia, which matters more here than the architecture. Slovacko has kept its costume, music, dialect and wine culture as living practice rather than performance: village feasts, the hody, are held through the autumn with costume worn by people who own it, verbunk - the recruit dance - is on the UNESCO intangible list, and the cimbalom bands play at ordinary occasions. The town has a Renaissance and baroque square, a Jesuit church, and the Slovacke museum with the regional collections. Around it are the wine villages with rows of press houses and cellars, of which Vlcnov, Blatnice and Petrov's Plze cellar row are the best known.

What you actually see

• Living folk practice - costume, music and dialect used rather than displayed.
• Verbunk - the recruit dance, on the UNESCO intangible heritage list.
• A Renaissance and baroque square - with the Jesuit church and the regional museum.
• Cellar rows in the villages - press houses at Petrov, Vlcnov and Blatnice.

When to go

May to September; autumn for the village feasts. A day.

Honest expectations

The living tradition is strongest at village events, which are local occasions rather than shows - go respectfully. Cellars open by arrangement or on set days. Museums close on Mondays.

Nearby

Velehrad and Buchlovice are north-west; Straznice is south.