Úsov Castle is a rare gem in Moravia — a medieval Gothic fortress and a Baroque palace standing side by side without one ever replacing the other, creating a fascinating architectural dialogue spanning several centuries. Add to that one of Central Europe's most extraordinary hunting and forestry museums, and you have a destination that rewards curiosity at every turn.
The castle sits on a spur of a plateau above the charming small town of Úsov in the Šumperk district of the Olomouc Region. Surrounded by deep moats on three sides and protected by a high earthen rampart to the northeast, it commands the landscape with quiet authority. The surrounding forests, which once provided hunting grounds for the Liechtenstein princes, frame the stone walls beautifully throughout the year — lush green in summer, fiery in autumn, and hauntingly still in winter when visitor numbers drop and the atmosphere becomes almost meditative.
How to get thereThe museum was founded in 1898 by Prince Jan II of Liechtenstein, who filled these halls with trophies from expeditions to Africa, Poland and Italy — a world-traveller's cabinet of curiosities that still astonishes visitors today.