The former Jewish quarter, 17th-century castle ruins, and Renaissance chateau draw visitors to this South Moravian town. Local museums tell stories of medieval trade and Jewish culture.
Boskovice, a town with 12,000 residents in the South Moravian Region, sits 35 kilometers north of Brno. Walk through streets lined with 18th-century houses in one of the Czech Republic’s most intact Jewish districts. Explore crumbling Gothic walls of a hilltop castle and a neoclassical château built over a former monastery. Visit a synagogue from 1698 that now displays historical objects and hosts summer concerts. Families can spend time at a water park with slides or wander through gardens filled with fruit trees and small farm animals.
Jewish Quarter and Synagogue
Established in the 15th century, Boskovice’s Jewish Quarter contains 79 houses from the 1700s and 1800s along winding streets. The Baroque Synagogue on Traplova Street, rebuilt in 1698, includes Empire-style details and a painted ceiling. Inside, you’ll find displays about daily life in the community, including handwritten letters and household items. At 6 Plackova Street, a museum presents ritual objects like menorahs and Torah scrolls. Below the building at U Templu 3/5, stone steps lead to a restored mikveh where water once collected from a natural spring. Former community buildings now house pottery studios and coffee shops. Each July, the Boskovice Festival fills these spaces with live music and plays that reference the area’s history.
Boskovice Castle Ruins
The remains of this 13th-century castle stand on a wooded hill above town. Climb uneven stone steps to walk along sections of the original palace walls. Peer into the 26-meter-deep well, still equipped with 1671 wooden wheel mechanism used to draw water. Signs along the path explain how locals dismantled parts of the castle in the 1700s to build homes and shops below. From the highest point, you can see farmlands stretching toward the Drahany Highlands. A compact museum near the entrance displays arrowheads, coins, and diagrams of the castle’s layout during its peak.
Boskovice Château
Built between 1819 and 1826, this château replaced a Dominican monastery demolished in the early 1800s. Guided tours take you through rooms filled with velvet-upholstered chairs, oil portraits, and a library containing books from the 1600s. Outside, paths wind through a park with magnolia trees and a red-brick riding hall designed to resemble a medieval fortress. The 1829 greenhouse, with its domed glass roof, grows citrus trees and tropical ferns. Look for exposed stonework from the original monastery in the château’s eastern wing.
St. James the Great Church
This Gothic church on the main square dates to 1346, though much of its current structure comes from renovations after a 1563 fire. The 41.5-meter tower contains a mechanical clock installed in 1567 and three bronze bells cast in the 1700s. Inside, carved wooden altars feature saints painted in vivid blues and golds. Marble slabs in the floor mark the graves of the Zástřizl family, who once owned the castle. Original stone arches from the 14th century frame the choir area near the back. Services still occur weekly, and the organ occasionally plays during evening concerts.
Boskovice Museum
Opened in 1905, this museum occupies a Baroque manor house near the château. One exhibit traces the history of the Minerva sewing machine factory, which began production in 1881. Another room recreates a Jewish home from the 1800s with a Sabbath table setting and embroidered textiles. Displays of scythes, butter churns, and blacksmith tools illustrate farming practices from the early 1900s. The collection includes over 22,000 items, such as medieval clay jugs and firefighter helmets from the 1860s. Temporary exhibits might highlight local painters or document the town’s after after World War II.
Ĺ melcovna Arboretum
This 9-hectare garden east of town has flower beds planted with tulips and peonies alongside apple and pear orchards. Dirt paths pass enclosures with pygmy goats and chickens, which children can feed under staff supervision. In October, workers demonstrate how to press cider using antique equipment. The greenhouse shelters lemon trees and succulents arranged around a small pond. Wooden benches placed under maple trees provide shaded areas to sit. Signs identify plants native to Moravia, such as silver fir and European larch.
Boskovice Festival
Since 1993, this July event uses the Jewish Quarter and castle ruins as venues for performances. Musicians play folk songs and modern rock in synagogues and courtyards, while actors stage plays in former school buildings. Workshops teach skills like bookbinding using methods from the 1800s. Part of the ticket revenue funds repairs to damaged gravestones or peeling paint on historic buildings. After sunset, crowds gather in the château park to watch Czech films projected onto a temporary screen.
Jewish Cemetery
Over 2,400 gravestones fill this 1.5-hectare cemetery established the the 1500s. Many markers from the 1700s feature carved symbols like broken candles (for extinguished life) or hands blessing the dead. The oldest readable stone bears a 1670 date, though earlier burials exist beneath moss-covered slabs. A brick building near the entrance holds black-and-white photos of Jewish families who lived here before World War II. Visitors can search digital records at the synagogue museum to locate specific graves.
Practical Information
Drive 40 minutes from Brno via Route 43 to reach Boskovice; park near the château or synagogue. Trains stop at Skalice nad Svitavou station, 3 kilometers away, with connecting buses to town. Attractions generally open from 9 AM to 5 PM April through October, closing earlier in winter. Buy a pass at the synagogue for access to the mikveh, cemetery, and museum. Wear shoes with good traction for the steep castle path. Plan to spend half a day seeing the synagogue, château, and castle ruins.
