Otaslavice Castle Ruins Audio guide

A ruin with an unusual history

Otaslavice belongs among the lesser-known but historically remarkable places in southern Moravia. It is not a single castle, but a medieval pair of castles created because the village was divided between two lordships. The upper castle stood higher up in the area of the present-day buildings in the Sýpky district, while the lower castle has survived only in a fragment of its former form on a rocky spur above the Brodečka stream.

Architectural form

The most striking surviving feature is half of a cylindrical tower, the bergfried, about 12 meters high. This part dates from the 13th century and shows that it was a fortification built to meet the defensive and representational demands of its time. Very little remains of the upper castle, because its traces were gradually swallowed up by later buildings and changes to the terrain.

The castle's fate

The first mention of the castle dates from 1353, while the family from Otaslavice is documented as early as 1279. In 1373, the lower castle came into the hands of Ješek Puška of Kunštát, while the upper castle was held by Mikuláš of Otaslavice. Both sites were destroyed during the Hussite Wars; the upper castle was captured and demolished in 1423, and the lower one was torn down a year later by the Catholic army of Duke Albrecht. Neither of them was ever rebuilt.

Today, Otaslavice is a valuable reminder of the changing feudal landscape and the violent upheavals of the fifteenth century. The ruin is freely accessible and has been protected as a cultural monument since 1973.