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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Background
The castle on the rock
The area in which this study has been carried out lies within the Podyji
National Park, located in the southwestern part of the Czech Republic right
on the Austrian border. The park has a long history of nature management
although the motivations behind it and the type of management have varied
greatly throughout time. The town of Vranov nad Dyji developed around
the castle built on a high rock above the current town as part of a defence
system along the river Dyji. It is first mentioned in written records in the
year 1100 AD. During the medieval period Vranov was located right on the
edge of the Margraviate of Moravia where the river Dyji (in Czech) and
Thaya (in German) marked the border with the Duchy of Austria. The
castle here as well as the castle at Hardegg on the Austrian side of the river
were established as a defence against threat across the border. These areas
therefore have a long history of being borderlands, protecting themselves
against possible threat from the outside. In 1526 the Czechs joined the
Habsburg Monarchy which put Vranov nad Dyji close to the heart of the
empire in Vienna only 70 km away. In 1645, during the Thirty Year War,
the town of Vranov was seized and looted by the Swedish army but despite
several months of trying to invade the castle itself they never succeeded and
had to leave Vranov (Vranov Castle website 2010).
Vranov castle was severely damaged by fire in 1665 and was rebuilt into
a large Baroque chateau. The study area was part of the large Vranov Castle
Estate and became part of the castle’s large Forest Park that developed from
the middle of the 18 th century onwards. One of the first features to be built
in the park was a folly located near the village of Čižov which was followed,
in the 1780s, by extensive developments of the landscape building the
Braitava folly, an English park with pavilions as well as temples and grottoes
on Rose Hill, located on the northern side of the Castle. Extensive work was
also invested in forest management and cultivation plans. Further development
in the 1790s included a wild boar reserve around the already mentioned
Čižov folly, a game reserve and a pheasantry. Over time adjustments
were made to the park and lookout points and monuments were added,
several for and by Helena Mniszek-Lubomirski, Lady of the castle in the
mid-19 th century, but the character of the forest park stayed similar until the
early 20 th century. After the 1930s, however, the park suffered neglect and
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