23rd Strážnice Vinobraní

This past weekend was the 23rd annual vinobraní in Strážnice. 

We went on Saturday morning.  It was a full-day wine and folk festival.

Lots of wine and burčák, plus beer and slivovice, along with performances by local music and dance groups.

Here are a couple of videos I filmed at the festival.

78th International Folklore Festival

We spent the weekend in Strážnice with Kája's family.  Every year, Strážnice hosts the International Folklore Festival, the largest and oldest folklore festival in Europe.  

Czech TV even broadcasts it across the country.  This year was the 78th edition. 

The festival is organised by the National Institute of Folk Culture which is part of the Ministry of Culture. 

The festival includes dancing, music, and various competitions for both children and adults.  This year there were over 31.000 visitors who came to see 3.150 performers from across the country.

There were another 230 performers that came from Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the USA.

The first festival was in 1946 and it was only for ensembles from across Czechoslovakia.  In 1957, the first foreign folklore ensembles participated.  The festival is for both amateur and professional groups.

On Saturday, there was a parade that proceeded to the open-air museum and stadium.

It was pretty interesting.  It's interesting to see how each region and village's traditional costumes vary.

Weekend in Strážnice, CZ

We spent this weekend in Strážnice, visiting Kája's dad and sister.  

Just a quiet home visit and a walk around the town.  Nice and relaxing.  Just what I needed before this next crazy week begins.  

Claudia, Tünde, and Nat are all coming for a visit but before that, I need to replace my washing machine which died a few days ago.  So getting a new washing machine is the priority before everyone comes to stay for about a week.

Strážnice, Czech Republic

Kája and I spent the weekend in Strážnice which is about a two hour train ride from Brno.  

Strážnice is home to 5.400 people and is 65 km (40 miles) from Brno, close to the Slovak border.  While Neolithic pottery has been found here, the it was first written mention of the town was in 1302.  It was one of the most populated towns in Moravia at the start of the 17th century.

The old city gate bastions date back to the 16th century.  They were used to protect the town from Turkish invasions.

Behind these gates is a chapel that was consecrated in 1917.  The story goes that it was built as thanks to the men who returned in good health from WWI.

The stone cross near the gate dates back to 1769.  The baroque monument is one of the oldest in the town and marks one of the places that city executions used take place.

The nearby city cemetery dates back to 1895.

Inside the cemetery is a tombstone dedicated to the Red Army that liberated the city in April 1945.

February isn't the time of year to see storks but here's a stork nest for when the season comes.  I'm told that nearby is one of the last places in Central Europe where a forest colony of White Storks can still be seen.

The shrine at Radějovská street dates back to the first half of the 19th century.

The town hall is a protected cultural monument that dates back to the 17th century.

The Strážnice Castle, is less castle and more chateau, is from the mid-19th century.  The castle is home to the National Institute of Folk Culture and a library with over 13.000 books.

The castle is in the middle of a large park where there's an amphitheatre.  

The Parish Church of St. Martin was a Gothic church in the 15th century but it burnt down several times.  In the 1720s it was renovated in the Baroque style.  

The Strážnice Museum of the Villages of South-East Moravia is an. open-air folk museum that opened in 1981.  

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1747.

The synagogue was built in 1804 and renovated in 1879.  It was damaged in 1941 and it was then used as a warehouse.  In 1991 it was returned to the Jewish community.  Today, it is part of the Strážnice Museum.

Next to the synagogue is the Jewish cemetery which was founded in the mid-17th century.  It is 5000m² (1.2 acres) with around 1500 gravestones.

The town is located on the Baťa Canal and it's possible to take boat rides during the summer.

In front of the city museum is a statue of the philosopher and educator Jan Amos Komenský.  He studied here in 1604-1605.

Of course no Czech town is complete without a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.  Apparently he had studied here.  

Strážnice is also the home of really good potato chips (crisps).  

I hear that the factory is the town's biggest employer.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube showing the factory and how the crisps are made.

©Strážnické brambůrky Hobža

Update:  Every year, Strážnice hosts an international folklore festival.