Budišov castleZoological storeroom of the Moravian Museum open to the public

www.mzm.cz

rative osteological collection with nearly 6 100 items were accumulated as well as materials enabling the opening of the permanent exhibition “Fauna of Moravia” in the Bishop´s Courtyard of the Moravian Museum Brno. The zoological collections have been gradually complemented, e.g. in 1974 with 3 270 bird skins collected by J. Karásek and in 2001 with a purchased collection of marine mollusc shells containing more than 7 500 items and collected by A. Rossi. Nowadays, the museum´s zoological collections grow mainly through the collecting activity of the staff of the zoological department. Valuable materials were collected during repeated expeditions to the Danube delta (1979-1990), to Cuba (1987), to Jakutsk (1991) and to Venezuela (1992-1994). Besides that, fruitful co-operation has been established with zoological gardens and private breeders offe-ring their dead animals to the museum to be prepared for its collections.

Zoological storeroomThe zoological collection of the Moravian Museum was gradually trans-ferred to the castle storeroom in 1974-1982. Since 1991 one part of the store has been open to the public. Besides the majority of vertebrates living on the territory of the Czech Republic visitors can see also 3 000 exotic birds and 700 trophies of ungulates from hunting expeditions to Africa, America and Asia (giraffe, kudu, eland, Cape buffalo, elk, reindeer). Among mammals one can admire top exhibits of big beasts of prey (lion, tiger, cheetah, brown bear and ice bear), there are representatives of all known species of even-toed ungulates (roebuck, fallow deer, bezoar goat, wild boar) and local small mammals (fox, badger, marten, polecat, we-asel, hedgehog, mole). Interest of the visitors focuses on the attractive platypus, echidna or opossum as well as on representatives of primates (orang-utan, chimpanzee, muriqui, guereza) including prosimians (slender loris, slow loris). A nearly complete collection of local fishes is prepared for fishermen. Other groups of vertebrates are represented e.g. with sharks (besides others there is the very rare nose shark), ray, lungfish, flatfish, swordfish, from amphibians there are cane toad, Surinam horned frog from Amazonia, phyllomedusa iheringi or American bullfrog, the biggest frog from Northern America bred in farms for its legs. Reptiles are re-presented with several turtle species including Hawksbill turtle and Pinta Island tortoise, alligator, crocodiles, iguanas and monitors, from snakes

e.g. boa, cobra, coral snake and rattlesnake. Other rooms of the castle sto-re are dedicated to the collection of skeletons and skulls and a collection of more than 150 species of cancers and crabs. Besides the famous ma-rine hermit crabs, fiddler crabs and other smaller species there are also the biggest ones – lobster, langouste and Japanese spider crab. The col-lection is complemented with examples of other invertebrates – sea spon-ges, medusas, corals and worms. The rich collection of sea mollusc shells is complemented with examples of starfishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and the most primitive representatives of the chordates (sea squirts, salps).

History of the castleThe castle is situated on the place of the formerwater fort from the 13th century protected by a moat and two ponds, today dried out. A living tower was an important part of the fort, later it was replaced by a palace-like build-ing with several floors. In the 1570s Václav Berka from Dubá transformed the fort in a Renaissance castle. A block-shaped building on a compact ground plan with a rectangular court adorned with arcades came into being. The today Baroque shape is due to the redesign ordered by the noble family Paar. It is characteri-sed by an attic storey, a portal and a stone bridge with Baroque decorations complemented with large decorative vases with classicist motives. Homestead was erected in front of the castle.The castle´s interior and salla terrena were adorned with decorative paintings with Chinese patterns, gilded elements and stuccos designed by the painter A. J. Prenner. The castle chapel was decorated by the painters Fr. H. Füger and V. V. Reiner, the frescos in two rooms onthe second floor are by H. M. Quell. In the same time a park with four ponds was founded around the castle; in the 18th century it was considered one of the most beautiful parks in Moravia. It was partly created in French style. From the rich sculptural décor of the park the authors

of which were the sculptors G. Giuliani, A. Jelínek, L. Matielli and F. G. Skalický, only a torso has survived. Further modifications concerning mainly the cast-le´s interiors were implemented in 1776-1781. In the period 1793-1945 the castle belonged to the family Baratta-Dragono. The Moravian Museum took it over in 1974. In these days the castle is the property of the township Budišov.

Budišov Castle, Budišov u Třebíčetel. +420 568 875 198, +420 737 823 873Opening hours:May – September Wen-Fri 8-12 a.m.Sat-Sun 9-11 a.m., 2-4 p.m.April and October upon requesttel. +420 737 823 873

Zoological collectionsAccording to the archival materials the zoological collections belong to the oldest holdings of the Moravian Museum. In the old inventories they appear already in 1816, even before the official foundation of the then Francis´ Museum in 1817. The oldest part of the zoological holdings is the collection of some 2500 prepared specimens of birds created by A. Schwab in the 1st half of the 19th century and sold to the museum in 1866. In 1922 the museum holdings were enriched with a collection of bird and mammal preparations and trophies from hunting expeditions of F. Chorinský in Africa. In 1930 the museum took over an extensive collection of trophies of J. Bakeš and in 1945 the collection of R. Salm from the castle in Moravské Budějovice. After 1945 a part of the collections of J. Seilern was transferred here from the castle Lešná (preparations, skins, lays of eggs). The museum collections came into being thanks to the gifts of the sup-porters and collaborators of the museum and in the initial period they were enlarged in the same way: V. Čapek (1926) offered lays of bird eggs, F. Zdobnitzky (1939) bird skins and lays of eggs, the museum prepara-tor J. Mrázek (1940) donated stuffed birds and collections of eggs, Jan and Jaroslav Hála (1942-1943) preparations and bird and mammal skins, lays of bird eggs and J. Dostál offered bird skins. After 1950 most of the new acquisitions were obtained through the proper collecting activities of the museum staff, mainly thanks to the long year head of the zoo-logical department Z. Kux: an extensive collection of ichthyological and herpetological materials containing more than 108 000 items, a compa-