Zámeček Moštěnice

Zámeček Moštěnice is an abandoned Baroque manor house standing along the road between Kostelec and Vřesovice, within the cadastral territory of the village of Hýsly in Moravia. It is the last physical trace of a settlement and estate that vanished from the map back in the 17th century — today locals in Hýsly simply use the old name to refer to the outlying part of their village where the building still stands.

How did this place begin?

The first written record of Moštěnice dates to 1353, when Lutold of Moštěnice sold a farmstead with three houses here to Jan of Blišice and Gertruda of Chválkovice. At the start of the 15th century, Pardus of Žeranovice built a Gothic fortified tower on the site, which became the core of the later residence. The tower served as a watchpoint and stronghold on a contested Moravian border area.

Why did the village disappear while the château survived?

The fates of the settlement and the château diverged during the Thirty Years' War. In 1637 the tower was plundered and burned, but rather than abandoning it, the new owners — the Petřvaldský family of Petřvald — rebuilt the ruin at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries into a rectangular, single-story Baroque château with a garden. The village of Moštěnice itself was less fortunate: devastated between 1618 and 1638, it was never rebuilt, and its last residents were finished off by a plague epidemic in 1678–1681. From that point on, the name Moštěnice referred only to the château and its grounds.

Who owned the estate over the centuries?

Ownership changed hands many times. From 1637 it belonged to the Forgáč family, then returned to the Petřvaldský family between 1684 and 1763, before passing to Jan of Kühnburg and, until 1784, to the Löwenfeld family. In 1854 the heirs sold Moštěnice to Vilém of Reichenbach, and from 1917 the estate belonged to a sugar producer from Jelčany. After 1945 the building passed to the municipality of Hýsly, where it served as a school, a dormitory, and later offices for the local agricultural cooperative.

What can visitors see there today?

The château stands abandoned and is steadily deteriorating — the rectangular, single-story building is topped with a tent roof, and its condition is poor enough that the interior is not open to visitors. Some traces of the original interior decoration have survived, though: a coffered ceiling in one of the rooms, decorated doors, and the last of the original tiled stoves. Around the building stretches a neglected, rectangular château garden with several dozen trees. Its main attraction is a massive ash tree roughly 250 years old, standing nearly 32 meters tall with a trunk circumference of 311 centimeters — protected as a natural monument at the corner of the former estate grounds.

How do you get to the château in Hýsly?

Zámeček Moštěnice lies right on the road connecting Kostelec and Vřesovice, close to Hýsly, so it is easiest to reach by car or bicycle from either village. Given the building's poor structural condition, the sensible approach is to view it from the outside and take in the impressive old ash tree in the garden — a safe and rewarding short stop on a tour of the region.

Frequently asked questions

Can you go inside Zámeček Moštěnice? No — the building is in very poor structural condition and remains closed to visitors. It can only be viewed from the outside.

Why does the name Moštěnice still exist if the village is gone? The settlement was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War and finished off by a plague epidemic in 1678–1681; it was never rebuilt. The name survived as the label for the part of Hýsly where the château stands.

What is the site's biggest natural attraction? A roughly 250-year-old ash tree in the château garden, standing nearly 32 meters tall and protected as a natural monument.

How was the château used after World War II? After 1945, once it passed to the municipality of Hýsly, it served as a school, then a dormitory, and later as offices for the local agricultural cooperative.