The television series will present historical military fortresses

Fort Hanička in the Orlické Mountains

Prague - Locations in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, which served as significant military fortresses at various times from the Hussites to the last century, will be featured in a new thirteen-part series by Czech Television. Starting July 4, it will air every Monday evening on the CT2 program.
     "The goal is to make us aware that each of these places has a historical memory. A sensitive person can perceive it and it can bring something to their lives," said director and screenwriter of the series Pavel Jurda at a press screening today.
     The individual episodes are dedicated to the fortresses in Tábor, Brno, Cheb, Prague, Terezín, Josefov, Hradec Králové, Olomouc, Králíky and their surroundings, and Slavonice. Additional episodes will present the artillery fortress Hanička in the Orlické Mountains and the Výpustek cave in the Moravian Karst, where a bunker for the army command was built half a century ago during the Cuban Crisis. The crew also ventured abroad once - to Poland's Srebrna Góra.
     The creators' aim, according to Jurda, was to inform about the fortresses in a broader historical context. "Fortresses were usually built based on experiences from previous wars, so by the time they were constructed, they were already outdated," the director noted. "So their main function was probably that people found work during their construction," he believes.
     "Those interested in military history already know a lot about fortresses, but the average viewer will find many new and fascinating pieces of information," said Jurda. He himself was surprised by many intriguing facts during the filming, especially from recent history.
     "For example, the Hanička fortress, which was built during the First Republic as an artillery fortress, was a secret facility until 1995. Communist secret services used it as a radio center for managing intelligence services around the world. A department of the Ministry of Interior operated there in full capacity just sixteen years ago," Jurda stated.
     The guide for the series of seventeen-minute shows is actor Petr Jeništa, and it also features historians, architects, enthusiasts of military history, and guides of historical sites as well as their owners. The series is enriched with dramatized scenes, filmed with enthusiasts of military history in period costumes and with historical weapons. "Even though these were dark sides of history, humor also has its place here. It allows us to look at it from a different angle and opens our minds and imagination," Jurda added.