Mikulov Castle

What makes it special

The château stands on a rock above the town, and from the square below it fills the skyline. It burned in the last fighting of the war in 1945 and was restored over the following decade, so most of what you walk through is a rebuild. The dome on the main tower was rebuilt then too.

The giant Renaissance wine barrel sits in the cellar under the theatre and holds just over a thousand hectolitres. Prince Maximilian of Dietrichstein had it built in 1643 to store the wine his vineyard tenants paid him as tax. Beside it, a gallery shows a row of complete historic wine presses.

The library holds about 11,000 volumes in their original Baroque cases, and it came through the fire intact. Next to the library, look for the Ancestors' Hall, the other interior the town singles out.

Visiting

Buy a ticket for each tour at the museum ticket office, picking a start time for each. The ticket shows that time and lapses if you miss the start, so leave gaps between tours.

Start with From Gothic to Empire (the Dietrichstein Gallery), the main tour, which goes through the state rooms. Then take the library tour, and go down to the cellar tour for the barrel and the presses.

Spend the gaps in the Romans and Germans exhibition, in cellars first opened to visitors for this exhibition, and in Wine Through the Centuries. If time is left, add Desire and dignity, a short tour of the Dietrichstein collections.

Guided or on your own

The state rooms, the library and the barrel cellar are seen only with a guide. Romans and Germans and Wine Through the Centuries are seen without one, for as long as you like.

A guided tour needs at least five visitors, free-ticket holders included, and takes at most 25. A smaller party waits for the next start, which then goes ahead whatever the numbers.

The museum does not list a tour language, so ask by phone on +420 777 061 230 or at pokladna@rmm.cz before you travel. Groups of ten or more must reserve the same way.

Tips

Flash, tripods and selfie sticks are banned in the interiors, and large bags are not allowed in. A pram has to stay at the ticket office, and food, ice cream and open drinks stay outside the building.

Leave time for the garden terraces, which keep longer hours than the château. From the top you look over the red roofs of the town towards the Austrian border, and information panels along the paths explain how the garden was laid out and planted.