Vesely Kopec

Vesely Kopec is part of the Soubor lidovych staveb Vysocina, and its approach differs from most skansens: rather than moving everything to a field, the museum was built around buildings that were already on site in the scattered highland settlement pattern of the Bohemian-Moravian uplands, with further structures brought in and placed where such buildings would have stood - along the stream, on the slopes, at the field edges - so the layout reflects how people actually lived here rather than a display arrangement. There are about thirty buildings: timber farmhouses with steep roofs, a water mill, a sawmill, a smithy, an oil press, drying kilns and beehives, furnished by date. Seasonal programmes follow the farming year. The Betlem quarter in Hlinsko nearby is a preserved street of craftsmen's timber houses forming part of the same institution.

What you actually see

• Buildings in their landscape - placed as the scattered highland settlement worked.
• About thirty structures - farmhouses, water mill, sawmill, smithy and kilns.
• Furnished by date - interiors set to particular decades and households.
• The Betlem quarter - a preserved craftsmen's street in Hlinsko nearby.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Open seasonally, closed in winter. The site is spread across a hillside and involves real walking. Labelling is largely Czech. Betlem in Hlinsko is a separate ticket.

Nearby

Hlinsko and the Betlem quarter are seven kilometres away; the Zdarske vrchy are east.