Veveri Castle

Veveri stands on a spur above the Svratka north-west of Brno and is one of the largest castle complexes in the country - a long spread of walls, towers, a palace and a chapel over several courtyards, first recorded in 1213 and extended repeatedly. Its twentieth century was hard: it passed through several owners, was damaged in the war, was then handed to a state forestry school and later to a university, decayed badly, and by the 1990s was close to lost. Restoration since 1999 has been slow and partly volunteer-driven, and it shows - some sections are restored, some are shells, and the visit crosses between them, which is honest and unusual. The reservoir below means the standard approach is by boat from Bystrc, which takes about half an hour and is the pleasant way to arrive. Concerts and events run in the courtyards.

History

Legend says Veveří, "the squirrels'", was founded as a hunting lodge by the Přemyslid duke Conrad of Brno in the mid-11th century, but the first reliable records are from 1213 and 1222, when King Ottokar I used it as a prison for rebellious nobles; in the 1220s a stone castle began to rise on the end of the rocky promontory behind a moat cut in the rock, and its keep survives from that first stage. King John pledged it in 1311, his son Charles received it in 1335, and Charles's brother, Margrave John Henry, built its rear part with two towers and an outer ward and the main palace with a great hall and a chapel, giving the castle its medieval silhouette. In the Hussite Wars it was pledged to Petr Kutěj in 1424 and the Hussites besieged it in vain in 1428-32; Przemyslaus II of Těšín added surrounding walls, Matthias Corvinus occupied it from 1468, and the Ludanice family held it at the end of the 15th century. Zikmund von Tiefenbach acquired it by marriage in 1609, and the family kept it after the Battle of White Mountain for their loyalty to the emperor. In 1830 Prince Gustavus Wasa, son of the deposed Swedish king Gustav IV, bought it and began rebuilding it as his family seat; later owners included the Greek banker Georgios Sinas and, from 1881, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who renovated it and brought in water and telephone lines, and his heir Maurice de Forest, whose guests included Winston Churchill on his honeymoon in 1908, sold it to the Czechoslovak state in 1925. In September 1999 the castle passed to the National Heritage Institute, and repairs funded by the state, the city of Brno, the region and voluntary collections stabilised it (Wikipedia, Veveří Castle).

What's there

• One of the largest complexes - walls, towers and courtyards over a long spur.
• Restoration in progress - restored sections beside unroofed shells.
• A boat approach - about half an hour from Bystrc across the reservoir.
• A thirteenth-century core - the keep of the oldest stage, extended for centuries.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Good to know

Much of the castle is unrestored and closed. Boats are seasonal and weather-dependent. The road approach involves a walk. Guided routes vary by what is currently open.

Nearby

Brno is twelve kilometres south-east; the reservoir shore is walked and cycled.

Key facts