HRAD STRAKONICE :

The Strakonice castle is an exceptional historical monument, both historically and architectonically. There is not much information about its foundation. From the available sources we know only that on the junction of The Otava and The Volyňka rivers there was a palace occupied by secular lords Bavars of the Dart crest, and by Johannites, the members of a chivalric Church order, in about 1243 already. Until this time the castle had been a mansion of the Bavor aristocrats only. The order of St John of Jerusalem, Johannites or the Maltese Knights Order, gained the whole castle in the beginning of the 15th century.

The oldest parts of the castle bear marks of the gothic architecture (The Saint Prokop’s church, the Rumpál tower), the Renaissance influenced the building of the Jelenka tower and the front side of the east part of the castle was rearranged in the classicist style. But these gradual reconstructions haven’t dramatically changed the medieval-like appearance of the castle with the closed second court and the castle ditch near the river. The area of the castle has now been a place for various cultural actions. It is a residence of the Museum of Central Otava Basin with its exhibitions dedicated to Strakonice, pipers’ tradition or the production of fezes and motorbikes ČZ. In the western part of the castle there is a safari in a former moat where dwarf goats, sheep, ponies and a donkey gambol.