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Beginnings
Kings began the castle in the first half of the 13th century
Construction began as early as the first half of the 13th century by the Přemyslid kings, and was completed by King Ottokar II of Bohemia. It became the seat of the Moravian margraves in the mid-14th century.
The fortress
Brno bought the castle in 1560 and made it a fortress
The town of Brno bought the castle in 1560 and made it a municipal fortress. Its bastion fortifications helped Brno defend itself against Swedish raids during the Thirty Years' War. It was gradually turned into a huge baroque citadel.
The prison
Silvio Pellico served eight years and wrote a book that made it famous
From 1822, cells in the northern wing were filled with Italian patriots known as Carbonari. The poet Silvio Pellico served a full eight years and made the prison famous all over Europe with his book Le mie prigioni.
Barracks
The prison closed in 1855 and barracks stayed for a hundred years
The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I dissolved the prison in 1855. The premises were converted into barracks, which remained for the next hundred years. The army left in 1959, and the following year the castle became the seat of the Brno City Museum.
Occupation
Several thousand Czech patriots suffered here under the Nazi occupation
In the first year of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, several thousand Czech patriots suffered in Špilberk, and some were put to death. For most it was only a station on the way to other German prisons and concentration camps.
Day 1, afternoon
It comes after Cathedral of St Peter and Paul.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Špilberk Castle, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.