Discover Tochovice

Tochovice combines sacred buildings from different periods with castle architecture, historical traces of gold panning and several named routes. If you choose a stay based on specific interests, you will find clearly distinct highlights here: the Church of St Martin and the Chapel of St Anne represent different periods; the cycling route, autumn run and geocaching route add different perspectives on the village. The railway is also part of finding your way around Tochovice: the station is on line 200, and a railway exhibition is still in preparation.

Cultural history between church and castle

At one edge of Tochovice, a castle stands in an extensive English-style park; at the other end is the cemetery church. The castle is a two-winged, single-storey Empire-style building with a façade facing the park. The castle and park are privately owned and are not open to the public. The complex is therefore part of the village’s history and appearance, but is not open to the public as a visitor attraction.

The Church of St Martin is considered Tochovice’s oldest monument: it was already in existence in 1331 and became a parish church in 1356. Surviving features include a Gothic portal and old gravestones. A new nave and a tall tower were added between 1899 and 1904. Its architectural history therefore includes both the older Gothic portal and a considerably later expansion of the church.

The small Baroque Chapel of St Anne is located on the road to Březnice. It was built before the middle of the 18th century and was already being used for devotions before 1780. In 2013, the municipality of Tochovice restored the chapel. Its construction date, early use and later restoration add further specific dates to the history of the sacred buildings.

Today, the sculpture Živá voda stands in the park near Nové bytovky. It was created by academic sculptor Jan Pichl (*1935). Alongside the historic buildings, it is another named work of art in the village landscape.

Traces in the landscape and history

Along the Lázský potok near the Podrejží mill are the so-called rýžovnické sejpy, remains of medieval and early modern gold panning. Here, a specific stretch of stream is linked to the history of gold extraction across two different periods.

Above Podrejží, on the slope of Holý vrch, lies the Celtic sanctuary Keltské hradiště Třebsko II. Almost nothing of the contemporaneous square ramparts remains visible in the terrain today; only a prominent change in the terrain on the northeast side of the outline can still be seen. This visible feature is essential to understanding the site: the ramparts themselves have almost disappeared.

Cycling route, run and railway

Cycling route 8212 runs via Třebsko – Tochovice – Stará Voda – Hořejany – Tušovice – Svojšice – Řeteč. By contrast, the distance and course of the autumn Tochovický kros Podrejžím are described in greater detail: this recurring local run is seven kilometres long and passes through the wooded Džbány valley along the Lázský potok. The two activities are therefore characterised by different details: the cycling route focuses on the sequence of places, while the run is defined by its fixed distance and the landscape along the way.

The Tochovický kros route passes the Džbánek ponds and wetlands, goes by the watermill in Podrejží and the former mining settlement of Kamenná, and then returns to Tochovice. Its autumn setting, seven-kilometre distance and named points along the way give the run a specific character, without making it interchangeable with the cycling route.

A geocaching route now follows the former Orlík railway spur. Tochovice station is on line 200 between Beroun and Protivín; the line runs via Praha and České Budějovice.

The U Kolejí railway exhibition is located at house number 87 in Tochovice, next to the Tochovice zastávka stop, and is still in preparation. Visitors and passers-by can ring the bell so that Dan Suk can show them around the exhibition.

Discover more destinations: Ouběnice, Dubno, Dlouhá Lhota, Hreben, Mašov, Hudčice, Obory, Vystrkov

For the regional travel overview: Okres Příbram.