Helfstein Castle on the eve of Hefaiston 2025 event / Music by Bedřich Smetana

Hefaiston is the most important annual gathering and international competition for blacksmiths. It is named after the Greek god Hephaestus. The event is held regularly at Helfstein Castle in the Czech Republic and has been organized since 1982 by the Comenius Museum in Přerov in cooperation with the castle administration. More than four hundred blacksmiths from around the world participated in the 29th annual event in 2010.

Helfštýn (Helfstein, Helfenstein) castle was established at the end of the 13th century by the marauding knight Helfrid of Linava who used the castle as a base for robbing merchants during the unsettled times that followed the murder of the King Wenceslaus III in 1306 (King of Hungary, Croatia, Poland and Bohemia). As Helfrid's escapades could not be ignored, young Bohemian King John of Luxembourg (John the Blind) sent his troops to deal with the bandits...

The Moravian Gate (Czech: Moravská brána, Polish: Brama Morawska, German: Mährische Pforte, Slovak: Moravská brána) is a geomorphological feature in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic and the Upper Silesia region in Poland. It is formed by the depression between the Carpathian Mountains in the east and the Sudetes in the west. The drainage divide between the upper Oder River and the Baltic Sea in the north and the Bečva River of the Danube basin runs through it.

Music,by Bedřich Smetana:
The cycle Má vlast (Czech pronunciation: [maː vlast] ) also known as My Fatherland is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. The six pieces, conceived as individual works, are often presented and recorded as a single work in six movements.

For the composer, the poem Vyšehrad has been inspired by Helfštýn Castle, because he lived in the nearby village of Týn nad Bečvou for several years.