Lukavec – Castle Park, Culture and the Sovova Educational Trail

The 12 km-long Sovova Educational Trail combines nature and local history in a unique way. It leads from Pacov through the municipality of Bratřice and over Mount Stražiště to Lukavec, and from there onward to Načeradec and Velký Blaník. The route takes approximately 2 to 5 hours; along the way, there are four historically themed stations. The trail is suitable for pedestrians and cyclists, offering different ways to discover the landscape around Lukavec.

Castle, Park and Literary Heritage

Lukavec Castle is an important starting point for exploring the history of the town. The late Renaissance four-winged building has an arcaded courtyard and was built on the site of an earlier Gothic fortress. The castle is surrounded by an extensive English-style park with ponds and a Neoclassical pavilion. The poet Antonín Sova grew up in this pavilion. Sova also spent his childhood and youth in Lukavec and the surrounding countryside, where he attended primary school. Near the castle stands Hříbek, a two-storey, hexagonal Neoclassical pavilion built toward the end of the 18th century. It is located in the publicly accessible castle park of the market town of Lukavec. The exhibition at Hříbek presents historical photographs and documents, as well as an almost exact replica of an Art Nouveau dress belonging to Antonín Sova’s wife, Marie. Another place to explore the town’s literary history is the Antonín Sova Memorial House. It houses a permanent exhibition about the poet’s life and work. The building was reconstructed and reopened to the public in July 2004.

Church and Historic Monument Zone

The originally Gothic Church of St. Wenceslas was converted into a larger Baroque church in 1765. Together with the neighboring Gothic-Renaissance fortress, the late Baroque vicarage, the hospital and the Neo-Gothic crypt of the Lincker and Lilgenau families, it forms an interesting historic monument zone. In Lukavec, visitors can therefore admire not just a single building, but a historically evolved ensemble from different periods. A quieter place of remembrance is the Jewish cemetery in Lukavec. It was established no later than before 1724 and contains around 100 gravestones. The oldest surviving gravestone dates from 1725. The cemetery is freely accessible; at the southeastern edge of the older section stands a restored, simple stone mortuary chapel.

Stations of the Cross and St. Roch Wayside Shrines

The Stations of the Cross run along a local road in the southwest of Lukavec, on the edge of the castle park. Benches are available along the way for resting. The route comprises fourteen stations and ends at the St. Roch wayside shrines. In 2009, the Stations of the Cross were completely restored; the original, more slender granite columns were replaced with columns that were also made of granite but were more massive. The brick-built, Baroque-style St. Roch wayside shrines stand southwest of Lukavec in open countryside, on the site of a former Rochus Chapel. Following restoration in 2010, their niches were fitted with tempered glass panels and black printed text about the saint, Lukavec and the history of the structure. This section thus complements the cultural impressions around the castle, church and cemetery with a destination in the open landscape. Further destinations for your research: Krasonov, Pelhrimov, Včelnička, Putimov, Lhota-Vlasenice, Jankov U Pelhřimova, Žirovnice, Popelistna.

To the higher-level travel overview: Pelhřimov District.