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Provisional editorial image for the Streetours route; review before publication.
Point 5 of 100 of 10 completed
The prisoner everyone puts in the wrong dungeon
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49.1945, 16.5983
On arrival
Pause by the rear or western moat area, where you can imagine the prison building that once occupied this part of the fortress.
Look closer
The key thing to observe is absence: the building associated with Trenck is gone. Use the moat itself as the clue and resist mentally relocating him to the casemates.
One famous prisoner, one missing building, and a perfect example of how the most dramatic version of history often wins.
Meet Franz von Trenck: soldier, commander of the feared Pandurs, spectacularly unruly Habsburg celebrity, and one of Špilberk’s most famous prisoners. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died here on 4 October 1749. Now for the correction worth remembering: Trenck was not locked in the famous casemates. The Brno City Museum places him in a prison building that once stood in the rear moat. That mistake is easy to understand — the casemates are more photogenic, so history keeps trying to move him there. After his death, Trenck was buried in the Capuchin church crypt in central Brno, where his remains became an attraction in their own right. Brno, apparently, was not finished with him even after death.
Accessibility at this stop
Remain on the upper path if the moat edge or lower route is difficult. No descent is required to understand the stop.
These notes describe known conditions at this stop. Urban conditions can change, so assess the situation on site.
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5. The prisoner everyone puts in the wrong dungeon
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