Within the municipality of Ostrá lie the ruins of Mydlovar Castle, historically also known as Kostomlaty. This unique site is one of the very few examples in the Czech lands of a brick-built castle with a curtain wall, making it a rare architectural curiosity.
The castle once stood on the very banks of the Elbe River, between today’s villages of Kostomlaty and Ostrá, spread across three small elevations now covered by floodplain forest. Its strategic location placed it directly across from a fortified settlement on the opposite bank — a boundary marking the edge of the early Přemyslid dynasty’s territory.
That opposite site had long been a center of human habitation, evolving from a Neolithic, to a Celtic, and finally a Slavic fortified settlement, all of which took advantage of the natural protection offered by the river and surrounding wetlands.
Although the brick castle itself has not survived, the oval-shaped earthworks of the ancient stronghold remain visible to this day, including a multi-layered water defense system and fragments of original masonry — silent witnesses to the region’s rich and layered past.
