Expozice železniční tratě Kostelec - Slavonice

The Kostelec – Slavonice Railway Line Exhibition is a small railway museum set up at the former station building in Hodice, a village in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands in the Jihlava district. It's a stop for travelers who like to pause beside a rail line and learn its story, rather than simply riding past it.

How did this exhibition come about?

The display opened on 28 July 2012 as part of the cross-border "Region Renesance" project and has been run by the Hodice municipality ever since. Its core comes from the private collection of Jiří Holoubek, a longtime train driver who spent years working the local tracks and kept items connected to that work. That background gives the exhibition a personal feel — it isn't a dry museum catalogue, but a collection of objects that actually served railwaymen on the job.

What will you actually see there?

The backbone of the exhibition is a set of photographs documenting the Kostelec – Slavonice line from its construction through to its present-day condition. The first section of the line, between Kostelec and Telč, opened back in 1898, so the photographs let visitors trace more than a century of railway history in the region. Alongside the pictures, displayed in cases and around the station building, are period objects: a speedometer removed from a locomotive, a disc once used for hauling soil during construction of the railway embankment, and signal lanterns taken from steam locomotives. These are the kind of small, specific details that tend to get lost in bigger railway museums, but here each one comes with its own story.

The station building itself is worth a look even without the exhibits. In 2010, Hodice was named among the ten most popular stations in a nationwide public vote for the Czech Republic's most beautiful railway stations — the tidy look of the building and its surroundings is the work of the same local initiative that put the exhibition together.

How to get there and when to visit

Hodice sits directly on the railway line connecting Kostelec u Jihlavy with Slavonice, so the simplest way to arrive is by regional train that stops right at the station — you can see the exhibits with barely a detour from your journey. By car, it's a short drive of around fifteen minutes from either Jihlava or Telč along local roads.

The exhibition is usually freely accessible, with no fixed opening hours and no admission fee — it's a modest, community-run display rather than a ticketed attraction. If you want to be certain you can get inside on a particular day, it's worth calling ahead on +420 728 034 228 to check.

Spring and summer are the best seasons to visit, since the surrounding Bohemian-Moravian Highlands also invite longer walks and cycling trips — the exhibition works well as a short stop along the way rather than a destination on its own.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an entrance fee? No, it's an informal, municipally run display with no charge and no fixed staff.

Do you need to book a visit in advance? Usually not, but if you want to be sure you can get in, call ahead on +420 728 034 228.

What exactly is on display inside? Photographs tracing the history of the Kostelec – Slavonice line, plus railway objects such as a locomotive speedometer, a construction-era soil-hauling disc, and locomotive signal lanterns.

Can you reach it by train? Yes, the Hodice stop sits directly on the Kostelec – Slavonice line, making the train the most convenient way to get there.