Castles and châteaux

Published by Central Bohemia Region, 2008
www.centralbohemia.cz
Information Centre of Central Bohemia Region
Husova 19, 110 00 Praha 1
phone: +420 222 222 398, [email protected]
Castles and châteaux
A region you just can’t miss!
This project is co-financed by the European Union and Central Bohemia Region.
Europe
Czech Republic
Central Bohemia Region
Prague
www.centralbohemia.cz
Křivoklát – a popular retreat of
Czech rulers
The depths of the Křivoklát forests hide away the
ancient royal castle with robust towers and an
extensive fortification, founded in the mid-13th
century as a foot-hold of the ruling Přemyslid
dynasty.
The castle gained favour by many Czech rulers,
who transformed it into a grandiose state
residence. Until today, the splendour of the lateGothic halls and castle chapel with its late 15th
century winged altar cause amazement. The castle
was also used as a state prison and “housed”
many distinctive prisoners. The English alchemist
Edward Kelley, serving Emperor Rudolf II, was
incarcerated involuntarily here, killing an imperial
official in a duel. The castle gained its current
appearance in the second half of the 19th century.
www.krivoklat.cz
Karlštejn – the Emperor’s treasury
For over 600 years the majestic Karlštejn castle,
the most famous in the country, has been towering over the rocky promontory above the Berounka
River; its past glory revived every year during the
Karlštejn wine celebrations.
Emperor Charles IV had the castle built on a
carefully selected location as a mighty robust
fortress for the deposition and safekeeping of the
imperial coronation jewels, royal treasures, and
holy relics as well as a place for his undisturbed
stay, sacred prayer, and contemplation. The
treasures were deposited in the Chapel of the Holy
Rood in one of Europe’s most prized preserved
Gothic interiors, of which the gilded walls are
inlaid with polished semi-precious stones and
the gilded vault is plated with lenses of glass that
create the impression of a starry sky. It bears 129
paintings of saints by Master Theodorik, a top
representative of European paintwork at the time.
The castle’s Romanesque appearance today dates
from the late 19th century.
www.hradkarlstejn.cz
Konopiště – a magnificent trophy for the future Emperor
One of the most fortified castles of the Czech kingdom, engulfed by seven protective cylindrical towers, was
erected at the end of the 13th century, based on models of French “castels”.
Konopiště castle’s current appearance was instilled
by the successor to the Austro-Hungarian throne,
Archduke František Ferdinand d´Este, in the late
19th century. He had it restored into a luxurious,
and at its time most modern technically fitted seat
of the future Emperor, surrounding himself with
valuable collections of weapons, hunting trophies,
sculptures, paintings and other art objects of
incredible scope. He had the castle’s surrounding
landscape transformed into a panoramic English
park with a game reserve, in which he hosted
grandiose hunts. In the end, the passionate hunter
became the target of a Serbian assassin and his
death in Sarajevo in 1914 was used as an excuse for
the outbreak of World War I.
www.zamek-konopiste.cz
Český Šternberk – a golden star
above the river
Just like in an old painting, the stately Český
Šternberk castle rises above the Sázava river
bend; the castle has virtually been the permanent
family seat of the aristocratic Sternberg nobility,
the rulers represented with a golden eightpointed star.
The impressive medieval appearance of the
castle, founded in 1241 with an ingenious defence
system, was partially hidden by Baroque and
Classicist adaptations in the 17th–19th centuries,
aimed at ensuring comfortable residency on the
castle grounds. The rich interior decoration stands
out in splendour and luxury, as selected chambers
gradually adopt a Baroque, Rococo, Imperial, and
Biedermeier atmosphere. The unique collection of
period graphic prints, thematically oriented in the
history of the Thirty Years’ War, is one of the most
significant in Europe.
www.hradceskysternberk.cz
Kutná Hora’s Vlašský Dvůr – a monument of royal power
Thanks to the Kutná Hora silver mines, King
Wenceslas II became one of the richest rulers in
Europe and the famed Prague “pennies” from his
local mint belonged to the most valued of European
currencies.
The unique building complex, encompassing all
developing Gothic phases, was once a significant
economic and political centre of the Czech state.
At the start of the 15th century, it became a popular
retreat of King Wenceslas IV, who had luxurious
representative and residential chambers built here,
with a tower and chapel in which he had the royal
treasures stored. The royal palace witnessed
several diplomatic meetings and decisions.
Wenceslas IV also issued the Kutná Hora Decree
here in 1409, limiting the influence of foreigners
at the University of Prague. Today’s neo-Gothic
appearance of Vlašský Dvůr dates from its 19th
century restoration.
www.kutnahora.cz
Kokořín – an inspiration for romantic artists
The castle’s pensive silhouette and its circular tower, guarding the romantic landscape of sandstone rocks, deep
canyons, and ravines hidden in vast forests, became a much-favoured place and an inspiration for Czech patriots
and romantic artists in the 19th century.
The castle, founded in the first half of the 14th
century, served defence purposes for almost two
centuries, after which it then deteriorated. It finally
enjoyed vast restoration at the start of the 20th
century, when it acquired its current Romanesque
appearance. The spaces open to visitors boast
the beautiful Coat of Arms Hall as well as period
collections and exhibits devoted to the history and
cultural significance of the Kokořín region.
www.hrad-kokorin.cz
Točník and Žebrák – a place of royal
stopovers
The deep forests of the Křivoklát region are dominated by the ruins of two closely neighbouring
medieval castles.
The older Žebrák castle devolved to the royal
crown in the 14th century and became a place of
frequent stopovers of Emperor Charles IV during
his trips to the kingdom of Germany. His successor
and passionate hunter, Wenceslas IV, acquired
a great liking to the castle and spent much time
here with his large hunt. After an extensive fire, he
had the more comfortable and impressive Točník
castle built on a neighbouring hill. Attesting to the
castle’s beauty, is the heraldic richly decorated
relief on the entrance gate portal carrying the
coats of arms of all countries that the king
ruled over, including his favourite symbol – the
kingfisher.
www.tocnik.com
Mníšek pod Brdy – a château with
three towers
A strong medieval fortress once stood on the site
of today’s château, guarding the safety of numerous trade caravans on a significant trade route from
Bohemia to Bavaria.
After the Thirty Years’ War, the Prague burgher
Servác Engel of Engelfluss acquired ownership
of the fortress. The former tanner from Belgium
gained great fortune by supplying the Emperor’s
Army during the war. He gained aristocratic status
for his merit and had a monumental château built
to represent him. But why did his seat have only
three corner towers instead of the usual four? Locals
will give you the most varied tales, all of which are
“guaranteed” to be true. The château houses an
exhibition that presents aristocratic life between the
two World Wars.
www.zamek-mnisek.cz
Loučeň – a place of vibrant social life
The newly opened château exhibition that presents
the private and representative chambers of Alexander Jan Vincenc Thurn-Taxis and his wife gives us an
insight into aristocratic habitation at the start of the
20th century.
At the start of the 18th century, the former
mansion underwent Baroque restoration work.
The aristocratic Thurn-Taxis nobility acquired the
château at the start of the 19th century; the new
owners had a vast landscape park built here.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the château
became a place of vibrant social life. It was visited
by renowned cultural personalities of the time and
one of the first football teams of the Czech lands
was born here. Since 2007, a “labyrintharium”
has been open to visitors in the château park
presenting a unique collection of labyrinths and
mazes, unparalleled in Europe.
www.zamekloucen.cz
Kačina – an imperial gem
The monumental imperial château is viewed as
Bohemia’s prime example of architecture from
the first half of the 19th century. It was built as the
representative seat of the supreme royal official,
Count Jan Rudolf Chotek.
The Choteks lived a rich cultural life, attested by
the former interior of the local château theatre,
including some set pieces and the unique family
library, which contained some 40,000 volumes
and belongs to the most valued château libraries
in Bohemia. The château is surrounded by a vast
natural landscape park. Besides the installed
period interiors, the château also houses an
exhibition of the Czech Countryside Museum.
www.kacina.cz
Žleby – the romantic illusion of a
medieval castle
Jemniště – a magnificent example of
Czech Baroque
The originally Gothic castle, later restored in Renaissance and Gothic style, was renovated into today’s
appearance in the spirit of romantic historicism
– unusual in Bohemia but impressive.
The spacious courtyard of the charming Baroque
château rises out of the shadows of the majestic
linden tree alley. It was built in the first half of the
18th century, based on the design of the renowned
Czech architect František Maximilián Kaňka.
The initiator of the reconstruction was its owner
Prince Vincenc Karel of Auersperg, a horse-breeding
enthusiast and supporter of its expansion in Bohemia.
The authentic Romanesque interiors are fitted with
rich collections of valuable historical furniture; the
most attractive exhibit being the coronation sword of
Habsburg Emperor Francis I. In the mid-19th century a
beautiful château park with an adjacent game-preserve
that is home to a herd of white deer was built here.
www.zamek-zleby.cz
Other Baroque artists of European format helped
fashion the château – Václav Vavřinec Reiner, the
author of the wall paintings and the altar paintings
in the château’s chapel, and Matthias Bernard
Braun, who decorated the ceiling and the walls of
the wide Dancing Hall with splendid stucco reliefs.
Visitors can enter château interiors with period
furniture and the Chapel of St. Joseph.
www.jemniste.cz
Dobříš – a Rococo pearl
The spectacular Rococo château with its vast
French garden and English park hides away the
impressive interiors of the representative halls
and guest rooms with valuable art collections from
the periods of Rococo and Classicism.
The authors of the château’s restoration in the
18th century were inspired by the styles of the
period of French King Louis XVI. Of the Rococo
interiors, the Mirror Hall and its frescoes attracts
most attention. The French Garden is a rare
example of Rococo garden architecture and, with
its flowery ornaments and cut hedges, evokes the
atmosphere of Vienna‘s Schönbrunn château.
www.zamekdobris.cz
Mnichovo Hradiště – property of
the victor of the Battle of the White
Mountain
The Renaissance château was built by Václav
Budovec of Budov, one of the leaders of the Bohemian uprising against the Habsburgs in the 17th
century. After his defeat, it came into the hands of
the imperial General Albrecht of Wallenstein and
remained in the ownership of his successors until
the 20th century.
At the turn of the 18th century, the château
was adapted in Baroque style with a luxurious
interior fitting. Belonging to the complex are
the former Capuchin monastery with the Church
of the Three Kings and the Chapel of St. Anne,
where the remains of Albrecht of Wallenstein are
preserved. The château entered European history
in 1833 when it hosted a meeting of European
rulers – the Austrian Emperor, Russian Tsar, and
Prussian Prince, at which they agreed to take joint
steps against the revolution in France. The prized
Wallenstein Library was moved here in 1921 from
Duchcov Château, where it was administered by
the famed Italian adventurer and writer Casanova.
www.mnichovo-hradiste.cz
Březnice – a secret marriage
In 1557, the Renaissance château became the site of
a secret morganatic marriage of the successor to the
Habsburg throne, Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, with
the beautiful low-ranked Philippine Welser.
Of the originally Gothic stronghold protected by a
water moat, almost the entire masonry as well as
the two-storey palace with its Gothic vaulted hall
are preserved. The Renaissance restoration gave the
seat a spectacular character, and one of the oldest
libraries in the Czech lands was established at the
time. Embellishing the château interiors are family
galleries of the aristocratic dynasties that owned
the château, the African Lounge, Renaissance Dining
Room, Baroque, Rococo, and Imperial halls and an
armoury with weapons dating from the 16th to the
19th centuries.
www.zamek-breznice.cz
Brandýs nad Labem – a countryside residence of the
Habsburg rulers
The much-favoured countryside retreat of the
Habsburg rulers with a hunting-ground near Prague
was renovated under the rule of Rudolph II from
the originally late-Gothic castle into a spectacular
Renaissance château.
The château boasts an outstanding sgraffito
decoration. The boss and rustic work as well as the
beautiful flower motifs and the secular, religious,
and hunting scenes based on Dutch period
engravings all date from the late 16th century. The
château, lying on a strategic Elbe cross-over, was
badly damaged during the Thirty Years’ War. Its
renovation was started in the first half of the
18th century.
www.brandysko.cz
Nelahozeves – a château
penetrated with visual art and music
The stately building in North-Italian style gives
a somewhat alienated impression in the Czech
countryside, built on a rock on the Vltava river
bank in Nelahozeves.
The magnificent Renaissance château, its facades
decorated with rich sgraffito, was built in the
second half of the 16th century. It came into the
hands of the renowned aristocratic Lobkowicz
family in the period after the Battle of the White
Mountain, and has been in their possession on-
and-off until today. The château’s interior houses a
significant part of the dynasty’s valuable collections,
including the gallery of Spanish portrait paintings
and other paintings from Rubens, Breughel,
Cranach, and Velásquez. The music festival Dvořák’s
Nelahozeves is held in the château from spring to
autumn, celebrating the famous local native.
www.zamek-nelahozeves.cz
Vrchotovy Janovice – in the style of
romantic Gothicism
Originally a medieval water fortress, it was built in
the 13th century, gradually renovated into a Renaissance and Baroque château, and re-adapted the
Gothic style in the mid-19th century.
Before World War II, its owner Sidonie Nádherná
was mainly known as a benefactress of the arts and
a significant representative of Czech cultural life.
She played host to a number of notable guests at
the château, including German poet Rainer Maria
Rilke. During the Nazi occupation, the château was
confiscated by the German Army, which gradually
turned it into a “training” camp for refugees
confined to forced labour in Germany and later for
people with Jewish relatives.
www.nm.cz
Hořovice – a neglected beauty
In the gradual Brdy hills, covered with a continuous
belt of forests, nestles the little town of Hořovice,
which acquired the name “Czech Bethlehem” for
its picturesque scenery. The monumental earlyBaroque 17th century château dominates the town.
The château prides itself for its remarkable Sun
Gate, an excellent example of smithery out of the
workshop of the renowned Baroque sculptor and
wood-carver Matthias Bernard Braun. The château
also houses a unique collection of musical boxes
and cast iron artworks.
www.zamek-horovice.cz
Průhonice – the kingdom of rhododendrons
Behind the cement walls of the Prague district of Jižní Město the picturesque Průhonice château rises out of
the lowland, surrounded by a beautiful natural landscape park.
Originally a medieval stronghold with the
Romanesque Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary,
it was restored into a Renaissance and Baroque
château. Its current appearance in Czech neoRenaissance style is a result of its last renovation
in the late 19th century, commissioned by its then
owner Count Ernst Emanuel Sylva-Taroucca.
A devoted lover of nature with an interest in botany,
he founded the famed park, sought by tourists
mostly in the months of spring, when hundreds of
blossoming rhododendrons haze with colour.
www.parkpruhonice.cz
Europe
Czech Republic
Central Bohemia Region
Prague
www.centralbohemia.cz
Published by Central Bohemia Region, 2008
www.centralbohemia.cz
Information Centre of Central Bohemia Region
Husova 19, 110 00 Praha 1
phone: +420 222 222 398, [email protected]
Castles and châteaux
A region you just can’t miss!
This project is co-financed by the European Union and Central Bohemia Region.