29. 3.2014 The foundations of a pillory were discovered under the pavement

The foundations of the pillory were found by archaeologists during research of the square in Litovel. It was there until the first half of the 19th century. Years before it was removed, it was no longer used for punishment; the women greengrocers turned the pillory into a bench.

In the book Litovel Memoirs by Lubomir Šik it is written that the pillory was removed from the square in 1817. It was located in front of a furniture shop, about seven to eight hexes from Nečíze. In recent years it no longer served to pillory convicts. It used to be used by the greengrocers.

The mayor of Litovel, Zdeněk Potužák, commented on the discovery by saying that it was known approximately where the pillory was located. "It is depicted in a historical drawing of the square by the German-born scribe Donat Ulrich. However, it was only during the reconstruction of the square that it was found directly," he said, adding that when the reconstruction of the square is finished, the place where the pillory was located will be properly marked.

The foundations of the fourteenth to fifteenth century Pranýř were also found in 2009 on the excavated square in Uničov. There were also medieval town pavements or burnt out market stalls from the same period.

According to the archaeological research coordinator Pavel Šlézar from the Olomouc office of the National Heritage Institute, the stalls and the pillory are related. "People gathered around the pillory and there was certainly a very good turnover," Šlézar believes.

This theory is supported by the fact that the remains of the stalls were also found near the remains of the pillory during the reconstruction of Horní náměstí in Olomouc. Compared to the one in Unicov, it was about twice as big. In the middle of the eighteenth century the use of pillars was abandoned. The reason for this was the reorganisation of criminal law, when the law began to be applied by the courts.

Archaeologists have also discovered a complete bridge on the square in Litovel, which is probably the oldest bridge in Moravia.

"According to the pottery in the probe, it should be from the fifteenth century. Of course, we will not determine the exact date, because the dating is not exact according to the ceramics, it could be plus or minus a quarter of a century. But we will continue to investigate it," Karel Faltýnek from the National Heritage Institute, who led the research, said earlier.

Sources: www.litovel.eu, www.denik.cz, www.idnes.cz