Mikulov Castle is a castle in the town of

Mikulov Mikulov (; german: Nikolsburg; yi, ניקאלשבורג, ''Nikolshburg'') is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and i ...

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The castle stands on a place of historic Slavonic settlement, where since the end of the 13th century the original stone castle was erected. The present castle is the result of a reconstruction in 1719–1730 under the princes of

Dietrichstein The House of Dietrichstein was the name of one of the oldest and most prominent Austrian noble families originating from Carinthia. The family belonged to the High Nobility, the Hochadel. The Nikolsburg (Mikulov) branch was elevated to the rank of ...

. The end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

meant a complete disaster for the castle, as it was destroyed by fire whose origins are unclear. During the war, the anthropological collection from the

Moravské zemské muzeum Moravské zemské muzeum (English: ''Moravian Museum'') is a museum in Brno in the Czech Republic. It is the second-largest and second-oldest museum in the country. Its collections include several million objects from many fields of science and cul ...

had been moved to Mikulov Castle for safekeeping purposes. Many of the most important discoveries from Předmostí u Přerova,

Dolní Věstonice Dolní Věstonice (german: Unterwisternitz) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 300 inhabitants. It is known for the eponymous archaeological site. Geography Dolní ...

and the

Mladeč caves , cs, Bočkova díra , image = Mladečská jeskyně 2.JPG , image_size = 240 , alt = , caption = Inside the cave , map_type = Czech Republic , map_alt = Mladečské Caves in the Czech Republic , map_caption = Location in the Czech Republic ...

were destroyed by the fire. After an extensive reconstruction in the 1950s, the castle became the seat of the Regional Museum in Mikulov, housing art and historical collections, including artifacts relating to the history of local wine production. The Renaissance wine barrel, dating from 1643 and one of the largest, , wine barrels in Central Europe, is on display.

References

External links

Monuments in Mikulov
Buildings and structures in Mikulov Castles in the South Moravian Region Museums in the South Moravian Region History museums in the Czech Republic Wine museums {{CzechRepublic-castle-stub