

OLD POST OFFICE
(STARÁ POŠTA)
After a two
year reconstruction, the so-called Old Pozoricka Post Office was reopened on 29 April 1995
(today, it is a private building). It was built in 1785 and served as living quarters for
the postmaster, as well as post office and guest room. It was built in order to make the
post office network more dense between Brno and Vyškov. It served this purpose until
1879, when it was moved to Pozořice. In the 20th century this historic structure became
dilapidated, as it was used as a warehouse for fertilizer for crop production.
Emperor Napoleon I, along with
his marshals, spent some time here in the afternoon of 28 November 1805, before the
memorable battle at Slavkov. He returned here on 3 December in the early morning with
Marshals Joachim Murat (1767-1815) and Jean Lannes (1769-1809), after the Russian
lieutenant general Duke Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration (1765-1812) had left the building, which
had served as his command post. According to legend, the triumphant Emperor, sitting on a
bale of hay, listened to an account the capitulation of the defeated allies by the
Austrian negotiator Lieutenant Marshal Duke Jan Josef Lichtenstein (1760-1836), who was,
coincidentally, the owner of the Pozor estates, within the territory of which the
mentioned post office was located. The emissaries were supposed to negotiate a truce with
the Emperor and arrange a personal meeting with Emperor František I.
In the building complex surrounding the
original flagstone courtyard, there is now a small museum of the Slavkov battle, the
exhibits of which will gradually be filled out with originals and replicas of items and
documents related to the battle, and there is also a baroque stable with a riding school,
a period restaurant and wine cellar, and a historic shooting range designated for the use
of replicas of historic firearms, probably the only one within the Czech Republic. In the
souvenir shop you can get commemorative coins made on location. Across the road there is a
chapel built by an unknown Russian noblewoman in memory of a Russian officer who died in
the battle.
Contact: tel/fax: ++420507 / 375985, ++420507 / 375986
http://www.austerlitz1805.cz
info@austerlitz2005.com
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