Častolovice Castle

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The Častolovice Castle (German: Častolowitz ; outdated also: Tschastolowitz ) is located in the east of the town of the same name Častolovice in Královéhradecký kraj in the Czech Republic .

Častolovice Castle
Častolovice Castle (to the side)

history

The former moated castle was probably built in the 13th century as part of the settlement of the foreland of the Eagle Mountains in a swampy area on the Wilder Adler . Its first owner known by name was the district judge Puta d. Ä. from Častolowitz . With his son Puta d. J. von Častolowitz died out in 1434 in the male line. The following owners included the Bohemian King Georg von Podiebrad and his son Heinrich d. Ä. von Münsterberg and Wilhelm II. von Pernstein . The castle is said to have been abandoned in 1559.

In 1577 the brothers Johann, Wilhelm and Georg von Oppersdorff acquired the uninhabited castle together with the lordship that belonged to it. Under Friedrich von Oppersdorff, the castle was rebuilt into a Renaissance palace in 1588–1615 . From 1684 it was owned by Count Thomas Czernin von Chudenitz and in 1694 it came to the Bohemian Count Adolf Wratislaw von Sternberg , who had the castle completely renovated. Further structural changes were made in 1858–1874 under Jaroslaw von Sternberg and in 1910. After the Communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1948 , the castle was nationalized. Leopold Sternberg (1896–1957) was expropriated and emigrated with his wife Cecilia , b. Reventlow-Criminil , and their daughter Diana to the USA. After the political change , the castle and Zásmuky Castle were restituted to Diana (Šternberková) Phipps in 1993 .

Furnishing

Castle courtyard
Knight hall

The castle surrounds a square inner courtyard with arcades. The interiors are furnished with valuable furniture. The picture gallery in the dining room shows a cycle of portraits of Bohemian rulers from the period 1453–1705. The knight's hall houses a valuable coffered ceiling with twenty-four fields with scenes from the Old Testament . The walls are decorated with portraits of members of the von Sternberg and Slawata families . In the castle chapel there is an altar from the beginning of the 17th century, which is said to come from Tyrol. The castle is surrounded by an extensive English park.

Library

The castle library, which has grown over the centuries, now comprises 5834 volumes, including 5 manuscripts, 708 prints from the 17th and 18th centuries and around 4000 from the 19th century. Of the remaining 5,000 or so volumes, around 20 percent come from the first half of the 20th century, around 35 percent are German-language works. The library, which around 1900 was also open to the public as the Count's book lending office and was last expanded by Countess Cecilia von Sternberg before her expropriation and emigration in 1948, was restituted with the castle in 1992, but remained under the administration of the National Museum in Prague.

Cultural center

Under Franz Joseph von Sternberg-Manderscheid, the castle gained cultural importance and became a center of the Enlightenment . The founder of Czech linguistics and literary studies Josef Dobrovský was here several times; the historian Franz Palacký acted as archivist for the Sternbergs.

It is also noteworthy that the historian Bohuslav Balbín spent the years 1625–1630 at the castle after the death of his father.

literature

Web links

Commons : Častolovice Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the manual of the historical book inventory online

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 50.3 "  N , 16 ° 11 ′ 13.2"  E