Strážek

Strážek combines an unusual cultural history with direct routes into the surrounding landscape. The most distinctive experience is Beaver City, a Western town with thematic ties to the US state of Wyoming. Other highlights include the Renaissance Church of St. Simon and Jude, Baroque works of art, the 550 m-high Strážnice Mountain and the ruins of Mitrov in the surrounding area. You can therefore shape your stay around staged history, sacred heritage and hiking excursions.

Beaver City: open-air Western town museum with its own visitor experience

Beaver City was founded in Strážek in 1995 as an open-air Western town museum. The site recreates life in American settlement towns from 1800 to 1890. Fort Beaver is the trapper trading-post area of Beaver City. This clear thematic focus sets a visit apart from an ordinary tour of a historic town: the emphasis is on an elaborately recreated settlement world with historical ties to Wyoming.

Contemporary clothing is generally required, with a few exceptions, for events at Beaver City. If you are planning to attend such an event, this rule is explicitly part of the visitor experience. It makes the Western town's thematic character visible during events as well, without implying any general statement about regular operations.

Churches, monuments and Baroque details

The Church of St. Simon and Jude in Strážek is a Renaissance building dating from 1616 with late Gothic elements. Since 1958, it and the Baroque statue of St. John of Nepomuk have been protected as cultural monuments of the Czech Republic. The statue is a high-quality Baroque sculpture from the 18th century. Another sacred attraction is the Shrine of St. Florian, a late Baroque sculptural work from the 18th century.

The Church of St. Simon and Jude is also a parish church with regular services. Several different layers of cultural heritage therefore come together in Strážek: a building with Renaissance and late Gothic features, protected Baroque sculpture and an ecclesiastical function that continues to this day.

Hiking trails to Mitrov and through the surrounding area

Strážnice Mountain is 550 m high and is used for recreational walks near Strážek. One more extensively described option is the excursion “Through the Bobrůvka Valley and the Mitrovský Estate”. It starts in Strážek and follows a blue-marked hiking trail to the Mitrov castle ruins. The excursion is considered a half-day tour.

The hike “To Mitrov Castle” starts at a bus stop near the Jednota store and a restaurant in Strážek. Another route, “In the Footsteps of Capital Punishment in Strážek”, passes the remains of a former execution site. In the vicinity of Strážek, the ruins of Mitrov Castle lie on a wooded hill around which the Bobrůvka flows on three sides. The ruins of Mitrov are freely accessible. This means your trip can include both a themed excursion along a marked trail and shorter historical explorations with different points of focus.

Other places for orientation

If you would like to extend your search to other places in the same broader area, you can also explore Vecov, Kadolec, Sklené, Křoví, Rozsochy, Sulkovec, Nové Veselí and Osové.

For the broader travel overview: Žďár nad Sázavou District.