Šatov - Countryside monument zone of pressing houses and cellars

The name Šatov is of Slavic origin. Legend has it that this name was derived from the name of the Duchess Svatava, the first wife of the Czech King Vladislav II. In order to pay homage to her, Lord Berka of Dubé and Lípa gave a newly established village near Znojmo the name of Svatava, Šatava for short. The first written reference to the village is dated 1201. During the rule of the last king of the dynasty of Přemyslides, the settlement was colonised by the German population. As early as 1316, the plot register book gives the names of vine fields only in German. In 1600, the Highest Moravian Chamberlain, Ladislav Berka of Dubé, became owner of the domain of Vranov, which included also the village of Šatov. He freed Šatov from all socage duties and some other restrictive laws (the exclusive right of nobility to sell wine and beer in taprooms etc.). Šatov has the unenviable title of the first settlement were the Phylloxera louse appeared. This disease of the vine was identified here in 1890 and it was the first occurrence of it in the Czech lands. The grouping of traditional homesteads, cottages, barns, pressing houses and cellars in the historical centre and in a newer housing development was declared a rural monument zone in 1995. There are some other valuable monuments here: the church of St Martin and the chapel of the Lord’s grave with a Gothic charnel house in a good condition, a baroque vicarage from the 18th century. Also a series of statues and wayside shrines of the late Renaissance are valuable historic monuments. The main building of the ceramics factory with workman colony deserves attention too; the same is true for an agricultural courtyard from the end of the 19th century built in the style of historicism. Šatov is the promised land of wine. Six vine fields cover an area of 260 hectares. The fields Na Vinici, V Remízku, Šibeničky, U Bunkru and Skalka support chiefly Grüner Veltliner and White Riesling. A slanting field in the shape of an amphitheatre stretching as far as the state boundary bears the name Peklo (Hell) – here the Müller-Thurgau variety especially prospers, whose wines acquire an unmistakable nutmeg aroma. Single-storey and multi-storey pressing houses of the local cellars are scattered all over town, the wine centre being the streets Sklepní and Zimní, which boast cellars of interesting architectural and construction design. You will get to this place via the Moravian wine trail, either along the road leading from the settlement of Havraníky or via a drawn-out descent starting at the Austrian boundary. The winding paved or dusty lanes are lined by massive pressing houses of rectangular layout which alternate with cellars that hide their secrets behind the whitewashed wall of the pre-cellar area. Most buildings are constructed of bricks on a stone underpinning wall; some pressing houses are made of stone and earth. Rarely, the technology of rammed earth masonry was preserved. Stone or bricks also frame doors and windows and form a decorative element for the front of the pressing house. Massive doors or gates are made of thick boards and equipped with handmade curtains and lattices (which is true also for the windows).  The wide arched gate enabled carts to enter the pressing house with a load of grapes. As for the interior, the press was traditionally located at the side and the floor was made of solid earth. Later, the floors were made using a cement finish, bricks or pavement from the local ceramics factory. Impressive ceilings are most often constructed of oak beams. The cellar itself is dug in sandstone and wine is left to mature there and subsequently stored as well. Vaults of younger cellars are constructed mostly of brick. As in other viticultural localities in the vicinity, the cellars here are intricate constructions of corridors with side alleys where wines are stored.

A unique masterpiece of a one-armed painter

The Painted Cellar is among the best-known viticulture buildings in Šatov. The inconspicuous, whitewashed front of the classicist pressing house conceals an underground with one of the great rarities of Moravia. In the middle of 32 downward steps a unique masterpiece begins – a mural painting of the local native Maxmilián Appeltauer, who scraped and engraved many motifs into the sandstone walls and polychromed them afterwards in many radiant colours. In addition to the main corridors, there are side chambers with a single theme. Some of these rooms are artfully hidden. Just to the right of the entrance steps is a circular corridor that ends in a deep well. The artist worked on his masterpiece for 34 years. He finished it by candlelight using only one arm, since he lost the other one during World War I. The nearby Moravian cellar is a paradise for all connoisseurs and lovers of first-rate wines. Here you can try the specialities of Znojmo, let the experts recommend some of the delicious local wines and, finally, spend a few romantic moments over a glass of wine in a three-hundred-year-old cellar. If you want to get acquainted with grapevines the way our ancestors knew them, visit the educational vineyard of the old cultivars located behind the Moravian cellar. Take a walk between its rows and return to olden days, when Bohemian and Moravian vineyards were planted with varieties bearing poetic names like Kamenorůžák (Stone Rose) or Modrý Janek (Blue John). As part of the Viticulture Tourist Programme, the Moravian cellar offers also a visit to private wine collections or a reconstructed wine barn. This barn has become a favourite destination point of cycling tours to Šatov, due to the holiday Saturday sessions with live music held there.