Hrady na Malši

Hrady na Malši is a non-governmental association of castles (or more precisely, castle ruins) along the Malše river in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. It comprises of five locations (Pořešín, Velešín, Tichá, Louzek, and Sokolčí). These ruined castes along the historical route from South Bohemia to Upper Austria mostly originate in the 13th century. The ruins were abandoned until the 1990's when the association was formed and started to renovate and revitalize the sites. Because of the association non-profit nature, the process is slow but it makes use of multiple public events during the year to both promote the places, to promote local crafts, and to show off traditional building techniques (e.g. traditional timber framing procedures, using historical mortar). Gradually, the sited became not only tourism destinations but also a central point of local cultural and social life. The sites are usually quite isolated, not placed directly in the populated areas which make the process even tougher. The events include traditional craft fairs, traditional craft workshops (pottery, carpentry...), and cultural events. The central point is the authenticity (wood is processed and treated exactly the same way as in Middle Ages, pottery workshop take places at traditional kiln built exactly according to archaeological finding on the spot, etc.). These techniques are not only shown but also used to renovate the castles themselves.