Humpolec – Culture, Castle Ruins and Historic Trails

Humpolec combines impressive culture with trails through history and castle ruins in the surrounding area. Here you will find exhibitions on regional traditions, unusual collections and circular trails focusing on historic buildings or the landscape.

Museums and Special Collections in Humpolec

The Dr Aleš Hrdlička Museum was founded in 1895 to collect material and spiritual evidence from the Horácko region. In October 2025, a modern ethnographic exhibition with interactive elements and a short animated film about flax processing and clothmaking was opened to the public there. The anthropological and ethnographic exhibitions are each located on a separate floor.

The puppet exhibition also offers several specific reasons to visit with younger travellers. Through texts and photographs, it documents the origins and history of puppet theatre in Humpolec. Four of the oldest puppets from 1920 to 1930, made by a local woodcarver, are also on display. Ten fairy-tale scenes were created from 60 puppets lent to the museum; younger visitors can play with several animal hand puppets.

The Jewish cemetery in Humpolec is among the town’s historic traces. It was founded in 1719 and contains more than 760 gravestones, including valuable Baroque and Classicalist stelae. You can borrow keys for an unaccompanied visit at the Dr Aleš Hrdlička Museum or the tourist information centre. In the Zichpil district, there is also an exceptionally well-preserved Tolerance Church dating from 1785, which is designated as an immovable cultural monument.

The climb to the tower of St Nicholas Church leads up 115 steps to a height of approximately 30 metres and includes exhibitions on the history of the town and the church. HLINÍKárium offers a completely different perspective on the town: it is a satirical museum based on the famous line „Hliník se odstěhoval do Humpolce!“ from the Czech film „Marečku, podejte mi pero!“ The private Museum of Scales displays scales of various types from almost all over the world; visits are possible by prior telephone arrangement with the owner.

Castle Ruins and Educational Trails

The ruins of Orlík Castle are located about 2 km from Humpolec and can be reached via a blue-marked hiking trail. They preserve a prismatic tower, a second castle gate, a bastion, remains of the fortifications and vaulted cellars, as well as a black castle kitchen with a functioning bread oven. The observation tower offers views of Melechov, Lipnice Castle, Humpolec and, to the east, as far as Havlíčkův Brod.

Two themed circular trails are available for different excursion plans. The Březina Educational Trail is an approximately 7 km circular route with 16 information boards. Interactive boards introduce the local flora and fauna through playful tasks. Pay attention to the section between boards 5 and 8: Due to ongoing logging and the use of heavy forestry machinery, it is difficult to walk and is partly poorly marked. The „Po stopách historie“ Educational Trail, by contrast, is an approximately 2.5 km circular route through the historic parts of Humpolec. Each board stands in the immediate vicinity of a historic building and provides information in Czech and English about its history and significance.

Discover More Places

For further orientation, you can also visit the pages on Hojanovice, Cernov, Ústrašín, Zachotín, Čejov, Nova Cerekev, Velká Chyška and Horní Ves.

For the higher-level travel overview: Pelhřimov District.