Position

The wine municipality of Milovice is situated on the northwestern edge of the Protected Landscape Area of Pálava, about 10 km northwest of Mikulov.

History

The old Slavic village originally belonged to the royal castle Děvičky. Its oldest preserved name – Milwitz – comes from the 14th century. In 1332, the village became the possession of the Lichtenstein family. The village suffered tremendously during wars. In the Thirty Years’ War, three quarters of the original 44 farmsteads were demolished and the village was among the worst damaged of the Mikulov manor.

Sights

There are several interesting historic buildings in the village. The main landmark is the Church of St. Osvald (Gotthard) built in the 17th century. There is a listed monument nearby – an unusual chapel of St. John of Nepomuk (Czech: Sv. Jan Nepomucký) with a very interesting ground plan, and a wayside shrine at the road to Pavlov. A gate of the village cemetery with Renaissance elements from the 17th century is also noteworthy.

Nature

The municipality is situated on the edge of the floodplain of the Thaya (Czech: Dyje) river, today flooded under the Nové Mlýny dams. There is the National Nature Reserve of Křivé jezero with floodplain forests, floodplain meadows and floodplain lake. The highlands southwest of the village are a part of the Protected Landscape Area of Pálava. Thermophilic oakwood and oak-hornbeam forests of the Milovický les to the south of Milovice with steppe vegetation and protected species of fauna and flora were declared the Nature Reserve of Milovická stráň.