Čáslav Hillfort

Welcome to the place where the country touches history. You are standing right on the edge of Čáslavi, on a location known as Hrádek. At first glance, this space may seem like a quiet, green place to you, but believe me, under your steps is an incredible layer of time. If you look around now, you'll see a terrain that looks natural, but its shapes are the result of a thousand-year struggle between human will and nature. Feel this atmosphere, feel the silence that exists here, because it is in this silence that it is best to hear the echoes of the past that have taken place here for thousands of years.

Let's go back deep into the past together, to the very beginning of this place. Imagine the year 3,000 BC. It's a period of eneolite, a time of the copper era. Even then, more than 5,000 years ago, people chose this very place. Why? Probably because of the strategic position, outlook and security offered by this elevated position. This site was not just a random place to stop temporarily, but it became a real home where the first foundations of human settlements in this area were built.

But now we must move thousands of years forward. Let's move to the ninth and tenth centuries. This is when the oldest Slavic settlement developed on Hrádek. This is where the identity of this place begins to form, as we know it from our early history. The castle became a fixed point in the landscape, a place where people met, built their houses and formed the foundations of future society.

But at this time, in nine hundred and ninety-five, a darker and very important chapter is being written in history. Traditionally, this place is connected with the character of Slavíkovka Čáslava. History tells us of the tragic events in Libice, when the entire family of Slavíkovice was murdered. Čáslav, which is associated with this site, was one of the sons of these tragically deceased monarchs. Imagine the weight of fate that lies in this place - a place that witnessed the rise and fall of powerful generations that shaped the fate of the whole Czech countries.

Now pay attention to how the importance of the Castle changed over time. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this site became something much bigger than just a residential settlement. The castle has turned into a key administrative center within the imaginary castle system. It was not just an ordinary castle, but a heart of administration, a place where the fate of men and territory was decided. It was a centre of power that connected various parts of the country and ensured stability in times when our national territory was formed.

Now if you look at the surrounding terrain and how the slope of the hill changes, notice these tiny irregularities. Even if you don't see tall walls or monumental towers today, you can imagine them in your mind. There used to be a Romanesque church of the Virgin Mary. Although his stones are no longer visible on the surface, his presence still defines the sanctity of this place. Imagine the structure, its quiet power and how it dominated the surrounding region. It's proof of how deep the roots of faith and culture were in this place.

But now I must draw your attention to something that has fundamentally affected what you are seeing in front of you. Today's form of this site is not the result of only natural processes. In the middle of the thirteenth century, between a thousand and two hundred fifty and a thousand three hundred, something fundamental happened. The massive construction of the top medieval city of Čáslav started with the extraction of material. At that time, people needed stone and soil to build their new houses and walls in the lowlands, and so Castle became basically a stone mine. This massive field work directly affected the face of today's archaeological site. So what you see is a combination of the ancient settlement and the medieval expansion of a city that literally grew out of this place.

Here is one of the greatest mysteries of this place. How did it happen that a place that was such an important centre of power and governance had so fundamentally changed its shape over time? It is a fascinating circle of history - a place that was built for protection and stability, in the end it itself served as a basic building material for future generations. This transformation forces us to think about how time continues to flow and how one era is built on the ruins of the previous.

Look at this space not as an empty space, but as a book that has its pages spread deep underground. Every layer of soil you see here is one of the lines of this story. From the first people in the age of the copper era, to the Slavic settlers, to the powerful administrators from the time of the imaginary.

Use this moment to slowly walk around. Feel the atmosphere of this place, feel its peace and its hidden power. Let yourself be carried away by imagination and try to see in every piece of land the traces of those who were before you. Thank you for choosing to explore this history with us. We wish you a pleasant walk and other interesting discoveries around Čáslavi. We'll say goodbye, but the history of this place will accompany you every step of the way.