Bronze shield brooch

The bronze brooch was used to fasten clothing and also served as an ornament. It dates from the Silesian-Platěnice culture and is among the earliest traces of human presence on the local rocky promontory. It was discovered in 1999, during excavation work about twenty metres from the museum building. That short distance connects the object with the ground immediately surrounding the museum today.

The brooch and nearby cremation graves confirmed that the promontory was inhabited in prehistory, long before the present town was founded. It may have belonged to a person of high status, although this remains a suggestion rather than an identified owner. As the oldest object owned by the museum, this small item of dress represents a much earlier chapter than the town's written records.