Hradiště Udánky Motte

Welcome to the Castle of the Event. Stop for a moment, take a breath and feel the atmosphere of this place where history rests in the silence of the landscape. You are standing right in front of a monument that, in its glory, represented security and power. In front of you, there is a fortress of motte, which is a specific kind of fortified mansion. If you look at the space in front of you, you'll see a hill of approximately 24 and a half feet. It was this high terrain that was the heart of the whole complex. Notice how this space is separated from the surrounding terrain. It is surrounded by a deep moat, which in the past formed the first and fundamental line of defense. Its width ranges from six to eight and a half meters, which, at the time, represented a very difficult obstacle to every enemy.

Let us now move together far further back in time, to the middle of the third millennium, namely around 1250. It was during this period that this object was created. Imagine a landscape that was much wilder and denser. The creation of the castle was at that time a strategic decision on how to control the surrounding area and ensure the protection of the inhabitants. Although the fort itself was established earlier, the first written mention of the village of the Event, with which this place is connected, appeared only in 1365. It's fascinating to think that people lived here and formed a community for ten years before the name of their village first appeared in official documents.

Now pay attention to the very structure you see before you. It has a very interesting engineering principle hidden in it. Look again at the deep moat and then the high hill of the fortress. Nothing was left to chance. The material that was recovered during the digging of the ditch was not taken away, but was used very practically to raise the hill itself. In this way, the builders effectively solved two things at once: they created a deep obstacle for the invaders, while lifting up the residential part of the castle high above the surrounding terrain, giving them a better overview of the landscape. Note also the position of the fort relative to the surrounding area. The moat was originally powered by water from a nearby small stream, so there was once a real water barrier that surrounded the castle and made it even more expensive.

If we move further in time in the picture, we'll get to the 14th century. There has been a fundamental change at this time. The original alumina phase of the construction, when the buildings were raised from wood and clay, was no longer sufficient. It was replaced by a walled-up structure that brought much more resilience and durability. Focus your attention on the south side of the fort. This is where a stone two-wing building used to stand. Try to imagine her in her full size. Inside there were three separate spaces that served different purposes. But what is truly remarkable is the way this building was built. The walls reached the width of one metre, indicating an effort to achieve maximum stability and safety. And yet there was no use here of any complex connecting material we know today. The stones were only connected with clay. It is fascinating to think about how much work and patience required the composition of such massive walls using only natural materials available in the surroundings.

When we look for the personalities that were connected to this place, we have to admit that history is silent. We don't know the names of the architects who designed this system of ditches and waves, nor do we know the names of the people who lived, slept, and planned their future in those stone spaces. But this ignorance gives the place some charm and mystery. Who was the person who first decided that this was where the moat would be dug? In the three inner areas of the stone house in the southern part of the castle, who decided the fate of the locals? Even if names are missing, traces of their work are still present here in the form of landscaping and remains of stone walls.

But in the fifteenth century, the break came. The object has been abandoned. Maybe the political situation has changed, maybe the strategic importance of the fort has changed, or maybe there's just stopped being someone to keep it. Hradiště Udánky slowly began to return to nature, grew into grass and fell into oblivion, while centuries were changing over it. The silence of this place was only disrupted in modern times when people returned here with a desire to reveal the truth about the past. The first archaeological research took place in 1937, which allowed us to reunderstand the structure of this fortress. Later, in 1970, there were second archaeological researches which supplemented the picture of how the castle looked and how it evolved in time.

The interesting detail you can write into your memory is the combination of simplicity and functionality. Imagine the contrast between the clay connecting mass and the metre width of the wall. Or imagine how the water from a small stream slowly filled a wide moat and formed an impenetrable wall of water around a small but solid hill. It is these details that tell us the story of people who have managed to create an effective defense system with minimal resources.

Now I'm leaving you to explore this place at your own pace. Walk around the trench, see the dimensions of this space and try to reconstruct that stone building in the south. Imagine how a fortress that stood here for centuries was born of clay and stone. Let yourself be consumed by the silence and history that is hidden in every grain of clay in this hill. Thank you for accompanying me on this short journey through time. I wish you a pleasant rest of the tour and many new discoveries around Moravian Třebová. Goodbye.