Obora Mstišov

Very old and extraordinarily popular deer park! Already in 1592 Radslav Vchynský bought land (called the Mlývský vrch = Mill Hill) from Rudolf II and founded huge, 60 ha large, preserve with various deer and a pheasantry (at that time it was probably a common deer park, rather than a zoological facilities). After the death of Vchynský, the noble family of Clary-Aldringen bought the entire estate . In 1703 Franz Wenceslas from Clary and Aldringen built for his wife (called Tupperle - that's why Tuppelburg) small hunting manor in the Chinese style and improved the deer park (at that time, the animals already were not just for hunting only - they were walking freely around the manor and the people came in to admire them). In 1795 the manor house was reconstructed to its current form and made a small lake with swans and goldfish. Gradually, the name Toppelburg was garbled to Doppelburg and from that the Czechized Dvojhradí (Twin-castle). At 18th and 19th century Toppelburg was visited by many prominent guests, such as J. V.Goethe and L. van Beethoven. After the War (1945) the deer park was totally destroyed and the area was nationalized (used by Severočeské státní lesy = North Bohemian State Forests). In 1974 the castle was repaired and new deer park was restored and renovated. Today the deer park serves more like a zoo, there are several species of deer (roe, fallow, red, Dybowski's, wapiti deer ...), moufflons, wild boars, foxes, martens, nutrias, several breeds of goats and sheep, pheasants, swans, ducks, emus...

It is not exactly known when the hunting game park was turned into a exposition, however it was not later than in the early 18th century (probably earlier). Likewise, it is not clear whether there was only one species of deer or more animals (which is likely) at that time. There are reports of import wapiti in 1878.