Mikulčice Slavic Hillfort
The Mikulčice Slavic hillfort is undoubtedly one of the most important places related to the early history of our state. It was one of the most impressive fortified settlements of Great Moravia. In its time, the Mikulčice hillfort was a water castle, which was surrounded by the rugged arms of the Morava River.
A unique Great Moravian monument of the early Middle Ages from the 9th century. You will admire the original fortifications of the vast acropolis, the remains of stone church buildings and the palace, formerly a water castle, probably the residence of the Grand Duke himself and his family. The site is now protected as a national cultural monument. The many archaeological finds from this site give us a general idea of the culture of Great Moravia and the material and spiritual life of the Slavs in our territory.
Čo tu môžete navštíviť?
It was filmed about Mikulčice
Informácie z histórie
HISTORY OF THE HILLFORT
During the 9th century, a Great Moravian hillfort stood here near the Morava River. The remains of its fortifications are still visible today and border the central area (acropolis and forefort) of almost 10 ha. To this part there was also an unfortified sub-castle
Slovanské hradisko v Mikulčiciach
The Mounds at Mikulčice are one of the most important fortified settlements with signs of an urban layout, rather military in character, with evidence of settlement in the pre-Great Moravian and Great Moravian horizons, with many churches (about 12) and artefacts testifying to the presence of Great Moravian nobility. There is speculation that it may have been a tribal centre with higher power aspirations, perhaps even the seat of the first Mojmirs. The turn in the development of the hillfort suggests that in the next phase it became an important element integrated into the system of defence of the empire and its centre. Lubomír Emil Havlík believed that it was grad Moravia, but several scholars are inclined to the name grad Slavnica or Slivnica.
Already in 1888, the Moravian archaeologist Karel Jaroslav Maška described the site of Mounds. He recorded the report of the superintendent František Kropáč about a large fortification with a distinct moat about 3.5 km east of Mikulčice and a slightly more easterly unforested place “where nothing grows”, surrounded by a moat, with findings of pottery shards decorated with waves. The year 1954 was a milestone for the start of the fieldwork. The systematic excavations, which lasted continuously for 38 seasons, provided, thanks to their relative intactness, the most accessible material for the search for the history of Great Moravia to date and are associated with the names of academics Josef Poulik and Zdeněk Klanica.
The agglomeration lies in the Morava River floodplain in a landscape of floodplain forests. Its core consists of the main castle with two large adjacent outposts, one of which has the distinct character of a permanent military camp and the other appears more like a walled settlement. The somewhat elevated acropolis of the Great Moravian castle and the military outpost were protected by an almost identical wall of shell construction with a frontal stone rampart and moats formed by a set of arms of the Morava River.
On the highest point of the acropolis were two buildings representing the princely environment – the princely palace with a cast mortar floor and a stone fireplace and the basilica. Both buildings formed a separate precinct on the area of the so-called castle. A moat fortification was found around the palace and the basilica and the cemetery were separated by a palisade fence. The extensive three-aisled basilica with an atrium and a nartex – a chancel is the largest excavated Great Moravian religious building to date. In the area of the basilica and in the surroundings several tombs belonging to important representatives of the ruling class of Great Moravia, probably also to some of the Mojmir family, have been uncovered. Around the church, a burial ground of approximately 550 graves was uncovered, the density and overlapping of which indicate a considerable intensity of burials and therefore a relatively high population density. The burial site is distinguished by the abundance of rich graves with swords, gold and silver jewellery and lavish sets of belt fittings and silver and cast bronze terminals and gold buttons. These and many other finds represent masterful works of local craftsmanship. The arms have become a kind of unofficial symbol of the Mounds near Mikulčice, but the most valuable finds include a silver hanging cross with the figure of Christ and a gold solidus of the Byzantine emperor Michael III. A certain proof of education are also the findings of iron pens – styli.
The traces of metalworking and jewellery workshops in the castle are dated to the period before the middle of the 9th century.
The agglomeration also includes numerous hinterlands (settlement areas with burial mounds):
Northern and north-western substructure of Stepnice I (a proprietary church with unusual external aisles with 6 graves around, a church with a rectangular presbytery and 26 graves, southern sub-castle of Kostelisko (rotunda with 4 conchos and a cast mortar floor and simplified ancient mosaic with fragments of Roman bricks), eastern sub-castle, Těšický les – Klášterisko (two-apse rotunda, 200 graves, bronze gilded plaque, razor), Štěpnice II closer to Trapíkov (simple wooden rotunda on stone base, fragment of smoothed porphyritic slab, 16 graves, silver buttons, iron spurs), Frog (44 graves, glass beads, knives, pottery), 9th to 11th century Panské burial site, 9th century Trapíkov settlement,Kopčany with the preserved church of St. Margaret of Antioch, which has been preserved almost entirely in its original mass. The dating of the previously escaped church was made possible by the discovery of three Great Moravian graves with gilded buttons and silver drum earrings.
Other interesting finds from the agglomeration include the remains of a bridge, paved boats – monoxyles, fish catching pots, a spear, iron fish hooks, a wooden bucket, a bucket with decorative fittings, iron buckets inlaid with wood, three different types of war axes, wooden spoons and ladles, rope, iron smokers, sheep shears, iron scythe, sickle, scythe, iron whetstone, iron daggers, lead dagger, arrowheads, iron keys and lock fittings, bone skates, awls, crosspieces, antler needles, burnt clay horsetail, bone whistle. A small silver gilded reliquary in the shape of a miniature service book attracted special attention. Interestingly, there are abundant traces of food consumption of all kinds, especially in the Štěpnice forecourt, fortified with a wall of the same quality as the castle, but with no traces of crafts and other creative work, i.e. more of a barracks character.
Graves often overlap, sometimes the foundations of buildings. The finds date mainly from the 7th to 12th centuries.
Also worthy of attention is the major reconstruction of an older stone wall without signs of mere routine maintenance or some sudden catastrophe (fire, conquest, etc.) at Mikulčice Vale sometime in the mid-9th century. The rebuilt wall had a face stone wall significantly less massive. It seems as if the political importance of the original fortress declined here and only after the new public order did the new power representatives take care of the restoration of the ruined one, but not in its original meaning and with the former power aspirations. Prof. Poulik’s reflection on the centrality of the state may well have been valid for the first half of the 9th century.
Josef Poulik at the time thought of the Mikulčice agglomeration as the headquarters of the entire Great Moravian Empire, arguing that it was the strongest fortification yet found on the Great Moravian fortifications. However, this was true only until the fortifications in the Uherské Hradiště site of Rybárny were explored.
Kde získať turistické informácie?
Kontakt
Na Velehradě jsou dvě informační centra, kde mohou turisté a návštěvníci získat informace o prohlídkách, akcích, výstavách a dalších aktivitách, které v obci dějí.
Visitor Centre - Slavonic Hillfort Mikulčice
Mikulčice 738, 696 19 Mikulčice
tel. +420 518 325 939
e-mail: mikulcice-valy@masaryk.info
web: www.masaryk.info/slovanske-hradiste-mikulcice/
Tourist Information Centre Mikulčice
Mikulčice 238, 69619 Mikulčice
tel. +420 731 408 988br>
e-mail: infomikulcice@bartonik.cz
web: www.infomikulcice.cz
Hodonín Tourist Information Centre
National Avenue 3957/36, 69501 Hodonín
tel. +420 518 351 437
e-mail: info@muhodonin.cz
web: www.hodonin.eu
How to get to the hillfort?
By car
from the north and south on the D2 motorway near Breclav at exit 48 turn onto the road 55 in the direction of Hodonin after 7 km turn onto the road 424 in the direction of Moravská Nová Ves, after 1.5 km turn left in the direction of the village Mikulčice after the railway crossing at the chapel turn towards the Municipal Office and continue from there to the right along the road to the parking lot of the Slavic Hradiště in Mikulčice.
Cycling from Breclav
along the “Stará” road through Hrušky, Moravská Nová Ves, past the gravel pit to the English Alley, then in a north-easterly direction to the fortress.
Cycling from Hodonín
from Hodonín castle in the direction of Nesyt
turn left at the crossroads and continue along the dyke to the hillfort.
Cycling from Holíč
from the Holíč castle towards the south-west, past the village of Kopčany and the Church of St. Margaret towards the Morava River
over the footbridge of the Great Morava River, then along the cycle path to the hillfort.
By bus line 572
during the summer holidays, the seasonal service will not be operated due to circumstances
Tipy na ubytovanie?
- Pension Mikulecký Kutloch, Mikulčice 504, 69619 Mikulčice
- Pension U Kostela, Mikulčice 236, 69619 Mikulčice
- Pension Vinařství Maláník-Osička, Mikulčice 261, 69619 Mikulčice
- Pension U Konečků, Mikulčice, 69619 Mikulčice
- Pension Kateřina, Mikulčice 335, 69619 Mikulčice