Tvrziště Motte

Welcome to Babice. You're standing right where time stops and history tries to speak through the silence of the surrounding countryside. Before your eyes, there is a slight hill that can act at first glance as a mere part of the natural landscape, but believe me, under your footsteps and in this scenic terrain lies a story that goes deep into the dark and clear times of the Middle Ages. You may not now see tall stone walls, massive towers, or castle gates, which would line up to the sky, but it is this emptiness and this quiet land that must help you imagine what was once there. This place, which people often call Wolf Castle, was once the seat of powerful masters and a centre that dominated the surroundings.

Let us now look together at what this country is showing you right now. Even though all the buildings are long gone, the shape of this place has been preserved. Notice how the ground beneath you is slightly floating above the surrounding area. This hill is not random. It's an artificial consequence of human work. If you look around this high ground, you'll see traces of a ditch that once encircled the fort and protected its inhabitants from its enemies. This moat gradually turns into the ridges of the earth, the so-called ramparts, which still clearly show where safety ended and dangerous surrounding fields began. Although there is no more stone facade that you could see, this geometry of the earth tells you everything about how important and fortified this fortress was in times when security was the greatest value.

To understand why this place was created, we must return to the 14th century. The first footprints that let us know that someone ruled here go back to the year three hundred and sixty-three. This is the moment when the noble families of Babic first appear in historical records. Imagine that time when it wasn't much of a paper document, but through the ability to hold a firm place in the landscape. In the year three hundred and ninety-one in our chronicles, specific names appear, which were key to this place - Michlik and Matej. It was people who were probably deciding the fate of the surrounding villages and who made this place their home and their fortress.

The ages took turns, and so did the people who controlled this fortress. In the year of a thousand and four hundred fourteen, the farm was held by, for example, priest Zdislav and the brothers Pesíková. This shows us how complex and interconnected the society at the time was, where religious power and noble power went hand in hand. This fort was not just a military object, it was part of the entire social order. Notice the atmosphere that's still hanging here. Even though it is quiet now, in these years life has been very intense, full of political change and constant struggle for influence.

But now we must talk about the difficult times that have befallen this place and the whole village. In the 15th century came a war that changed everything. The Hussite, whose influence was spread throughout the country, brought chaos and destruction. The village of Babice was desolate during these wars. You can imagine those empty streets, quiet houses and silence that replaced the earlier noise of human life. The fortress that was supposed to be protected witnessed a decline. This era was very painful for this area and left a deep scar in the landscape.

Yet history didn't just end in extinction. After a period of decline, things began to change slowly. A year ago a thousand and five hundred forty-one strongholds passed into the hands of a powerful family of Pernstejns, one of the most important families of the time. Their presence in the area meant that the region was returning to something. And indeed, according to records from the year one thousand five hundred seventy-one, the village began to rise again and grow again. This ability to recover is fascinating - even though the original building was destroyed, life in this area has never given up.

If you look at the very surface of the earth now, you may not realize that the real treasures of the past are hidden beneath your feet. In the year of a thousand eight hundred ninety-four, archaeologists here did a job that allowed us to understand how people actually lived here. It was not only great events and battles, but also everyday survival efforts. They found, for example, a shredder, a tool that helped people prepare food, and various fragments of pottery that suggest that it was cooked and eaten. There were also containers containing ash, which makes us think about the fires that once burned in these areas - whether for warmth, for cooking, or perhaps even in times of danger. These tiny objects are like the voices of the people who lived here hundreds of years ago, and because of them, this place ceases to be just a pile of dirt and becomes a living history.

But there is also one mystery that may interest you. Why is this place called Wolf Castle? Why not a name that would be associated with kings or knights, but a wild animal? Perhaps it refers to the wilderness of the place, its dangers, or perhaps how this fortress became abandoned and inhospitable at some point, like a wolf's lair in a deep forest. This mystery gives the place a special spell that you feel when you stop and let yourself pass through the silence.

Now I want to invite you to continue your walk. Let the lines of this ditch guide you and try to reconstruct the shapes that once stood here. Look at the walls, notice how the terrain changes, and try to imagine people like Matej or Michlik looking at the same landscape you see. Even though this monument is now extinct, its spirit still persists in every stone and every piece of earth. Thank you for sharing this story with us. We will brighten up your time at this place and wish you a pleasant journey to the other secrets that await you around. We'll say goodbye, but history remains here, right under your feet.