Dřevohostice Chateau

This beautiful Renaissance chateau at the foothills of picturesque Hostýn Hills is among the most important monuments of the Moravian Renaissance.

Surrounded by a moat and roughly square in shape, the chateau comprises a four-wing, two-storey building with a tower and a three-wing, single-storey in front that has cylindrical bastions in the corners. The chateau inner courtyard has an open arcaded gallery on three sides. The first written records date back to 1368 when the place was a military fortress owned by the Tovačov family from Cimburk. Three new castle wings built Karel the Elder of Žerotín at the turn of the 16th century, the chateau replaced the original water fort. During this Renaissance redevelopment, the arcaded courtyard, fortifications, and moat were added to the chateau. The buildings in front of the chateau were constructed in the mid-17th century. The original fortification had four corner bastions, of which only two have been preserved. After losing its defensive significance, it was partially demolished in 1836 and the vacant plots were then turned into a landscape park with a botanical garden. In 1897, the last owner, Baroness Leonie Skrbenská of Hříště, sold the chateau and the surrounding domain to the town of Dřevohostice for 255 thousand guilders. After 1902, the chateau was used for various purposes – as a school, warehouse, and social care home.

Since 2002, it has served as the town’s cultural centre. Visitors can tour its typical chateau exhibits, but the other halls and even the attic include many other items of interest, such as a unique exhibit of folk medicine, psychotronics, and bioecology, with numerous unusual artefacts like the kiss-o-meter and an apparatus for the production of water of life and death. The tour also includes a sculpture exhibition, an exposition of the town and an exhibition of historical firemen's helmets.

Last but not least, in the room of the former chapel there is a memorial hall of Cardinal Lev Skrbensky of Hříště. You can also climb to the tower to have a look around. The front buildings house the Fire Brigade Museum with a horse-drawn fire pump from 1842.