Grapevine and apricots distinguish the area where Miroslav (240 metres above sea level, 3,000 inhabitants) lies less than 50 km from Brno. Even the very first documents mentioning Miroslav describe vineyards: in 1222, Přemysl Otakar I issued a deed about a wine tithe to Benedictines in Rajhrad. Weinperky, from where wine was transported to Vienna in the Middle Ages, are the most famous vineyard route in Miroslav. The local vineyards produce top-quality wine even today. There used to be a water fortress in the village in Gothic times, converted into a Renaissance castle by its owners, the Valecký of Mírov family, in the middle of the 16th century. And it was then that Miroslav was proclaimed a small town (and in 1965, it received the status of a town). Since long ago, both the Czechs and the Germans have lived together in Miroslav. In the 15th century when the Jews were driven out from Brno and Znojmo, a quite strong Jewish community was established here. The castle had different owners very often and, as well as the whole town, it suffered a lot during the Thirty Years’ War, falling into disrepair eventually.
The St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church from 1729 belong to the significant Baroque sights. The town hall was built at the beginning of World War I. During World War II, Miroslav was a part of the German Empire. At the end of the war, the town was bombed and the castle damaged. A mass transfer of population followed. German citizens were forced to leave. The Jewish community disapper, nobody returned. People from Bohemia and various parts of Moravia and Slovakia started moving to Miroslav, especially those from villages flooded during the construction of the Vírská Dam.
Nowadays Miroslav is a lively and hospitable village. Costumed feasts, fairs, traditional tastings and apricot-harvest festivals are given here. The Jewish cemetery which survived was in a very bad condition. However, young volunteers from different countries have helped to restore it and it is looked after very carefully now. Hopefully, there are better times to come for the castle, too.
The history of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren in Miroslav dates back to the 19th century. At the time after the Toleration Patent was issued, local Protestants belonged to the Nosislav congregation, and an independent congregation was not founded until 1850.
The house of prayer, one of the last ones built according to the toleration rules valid in those days, was placed on the hill-top outside the village. The spacy Neo-Classicist house of prayer with historicist elements was extended later, but did not change too much over the years. However, all necessary repairs were done. A tower was not added to the house of prayer anymore. Its front part is decorated with columns and a window was made above the entrance. A tall big birch tree, growing in the well-cultivated garden, partly shades the face of the building.
The rectory was built by the roadside in 1851. Getting its final look later, it is both a place for the congregation activities and a preacher’s house. The preaching station in the village of Bohutice deserves to be mentioned, too: a small functionalist church built in 1935 has become a protected site.