Hukvaldy Castle

The exact date of the castle's founding is unknown; it is first mentioned in 1285. It most likely got its name from the Lords of Příbor, after their ancestral castle Hückeswagen in the Rhineland. For most of its history, it belonged to the Olomouc bishops, who rebuilt it into a mighty fortress in the 15th and 16th centuries; because of the lack of drinking water, three wells were dug here from 1560 onward. After a fire in 1762, the castle was never restored. The best-preserved structure in the complex is the Chapel of Saint Andrew, restored in the 19th century. The castle stands at the edge of a game preserve founded between 1566 and 1568 by the Olomouc bishop Vilém Prusinovský for twenty fallow deer gifted by Emperor Maximilian; today it is home to fallow deer, mouflon, and wild boar. In the natural amphitheater below the castle, the Janáček Hukvaldy festival is held every year.