Large Depot

The name Depot comes from its later use as a storage facility. The vast training ground, covering nearly 40 hectares, was established in 1749 as part of the reorganization of Austrian artillery and was in use until 1866. After the camp was closed, its original terrain structures – ravelins, parallels, and bastions – were leveled, along with dozens of temporary buildings, such as laboratories, workshops, stables, forges, a bakery, and even 17 taverns.

Today, valuable remnants of the training fortress (earthworks and trenches) remain in the nearby Šance forest. Near the Širočiny solitude, one can find a fragment of the so-called epolement – a bullet trap made of piled-up earth, as well as two masonry buildings to the right of the road from Týn nad Vltavou to Tábor: the former inn Bída and next to it a now-devastated farmstead with agricultural buildings, originally a lavish residence for high-ranking military officers.

The site is now dominated by a Baroque sandstone sculpture group, commemorating the catastrophe that occurred in the camp on June 21, 1753. In two artillery laboratories, gunpowder ignited, leading to an explosion that killed more than 80 "firemasters" and seriously injured over 40 others.

According to local legend, the explosion was actually a planned assassination attempt on Empress Maria Theresa, who was supposed to attend the military maneuvers.