Welcome to the Hutterites Museum in Sobotište
The Anabaptists settled in Sobotište for several centuries and with their knowledge and skills contributed to the expansion of the whole region. The oldest fraternal court in Slovakia was established in Sobotište as early as 1546. The Anabaptized came to the village at the invitation of Count František Nyáry, who knew them well from his estates in Bzenec and allowed them to establish a fraternal court on the manor land on the southwest side of the town. They bought a mill and a desolate mayor from the peasant Kliment Papp, who was outside the village at that time. From that moment on, the mill became for four centuries the common property of the Anabaptized and later their descendants. At present, the building is the property of the village and as a national cultural monument it represents one of the dominants of the Sobotište Monument Zone – Hutterites court.
Out of respect for traditions, the Hutterite mill is an ideal space for presenting the history of the Hutterites in Sobotište and western Slovakia. Thanks to the project “ In the Footsteps of the Hutterites“, after many decades, the topic of the anabaptized in Sobotište received the attention it deserved. The museum presents the spiritual, cultural and material legacy of the religious community, whose descendants live in the village and in the world to this day.
What you will learn
The museum exposition will acquaint you with the history of the origin of the Anabaptized, their work in Bohemia, southwestern Slovakia, persecution and migration to other countries of the world to the current life of Hutterite communities in North America.
It is devoted in more detail to the life and history of the Anabaptized in Sobotište and Slovakia. It introduces them to social and spiritual life, craftsmanship, ceramic production, construction, the disintegration of the fraternal community and the process of re-Catholicization.
It does not omit the history and purpose of the mill. The restored mill platform and flour castle with a wheel from the middle of the 19th century are complemented by information about grinding technologies.
The exhibits include a model of a Hutterite house, a cross-section of a Hutterite roof, replicas of original clothing and a Sobotište faience, a facsimile of Hutterite manuscripts, a model of a Hutterite court from the end of the 19th century, archeological finds and objects associated with community life.
The “Educational trail through the Hutterite court” will take you through the architecture of the monument zone, which will convince you that the Hutterites have left a deep indelible mark in Sobotište.
The genius loci of the Haban court remains a silent witness to the many stories that have taken place here. If you stop for a moment … and let yourself be carried away by the nostalgic atmosphere of old nooks and crannies, alleys and walls, maybe someone will reveal themselves to you.
