Opočno Castle

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Opočno Castle
Inner courtyard with Renaissance arcades
In the courtyard of the castle
Aerial view

The Opočno Castle (German Opotschno ) is located in the town of the same name Opočno in Eastern Bohemia , which belongs to the Hradec Kralove region .

history

A Přemyslid castle , which was part of the royal castle system , originally stood on the site of today's castle . It is mentioned in the Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague for the year 1068. Around the middle of the 14th century it came to Sezema von Dobruška , with whose descendants it remained until 1425 when it was conquered by the Hussites .

From 1495 Opočno belonged to the Trčka von Leipa gentlemen, who were accepted into the Bohemian gentry in 1562 . Wilhelm Trčka von Leipa built a three-winged Renaissance chateau on the site of the castle in 1560–1569 . After the death of his cousin Christoph (Kryštof) Jaroslav Trčka of Lípa in 1601 Jan Rudolf Trčka of Lípa inherited the rule. In August 1627, his son Adam Erdmann Trčka von Lípa married Maximiliane, daughter of the imperial councilor Count Karl von Harrach , here, making Adam Wallenstein's brother-in-law , who was married to Maximiliane's sister Isabella. As a result, Wallenstein came under the influence of the Trčka family, who, despite considerable enrichment through confiscated emigrant property, conspired with the leaders of the Bohemian exiles , including their brother-in-law Wilhelm Kinsky . After the murder of Wallenstein, Kinsky and Adam Erdmann Trčka in Eger in 1634 and the early death of his father, Opočno was confiscated by Emperor Ferdinand II . This handed over the rule to the loyal general Count Rudolf von Colloredo .

After a major fire at the end of the 17th century, the Colloredo family made some changes in the Baroque style, whereby the core of the Renaissance castle was preserved. The renovation work was directed by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi . In 1775 the castle and the rulership came to Prince Rudolph Joseph von Colloredo . His descendants, the princes of Colloredo-Mansfeld, held important positions in Austrian diplomacy and in the military in the 18th and 19th centuries. The palace was confiscated by the National Socialists during World War II (1939–1945). Due to the expropriation of Prince Josef II (1866–1957) without compensation in the course of the Beneš decrees by Czechoslovakia in 1945, the Colloredo-Mansfelds lost ownership of the castle. After the Velvet Revolution in 2007, his great niece Kristina and his great nephew Hieronymus Colloredo-Mansfeld received the property of the former Majorate Opočno back in addition to Dobříš Castle . They divided up the possessions and Kristina took over Opočno, but after a sensational judgment by the Constitutional Court had to return the castle to the state while she was able to keep the lands. A legal dispute is still pending over the inventory. On May 19, 2020, a decision by the Constitutional Court was published that the ownership of the castle would remain with the Czech state.

Attractions

Salon with paintings

The castle houses a gallery with Italian paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries and a valuable castle library. Also worth seeing is the knight's hall , in which valuable armor and historical weapons are exhibited. Portraits of the family members of the castle owners can be seen in the representation salon. Collections from Africa and America complete the exhibition. The collection, the value of which the Monument Protection Office estimates at over a billion crowns, around 35 million euros, includes an artistically valuable carriage.

Political importance

After preliminary talks at the nearby Ratibořice Castle , political negotiations took place at the Opočno Castle from June 10 to 23, 1813. With them Austria should be integrated into an anti-Napoleonic alliance. Participants were Tsar Alexander I of Russia, the Austrian Chancellor Metternich , the Prussian State Chancellor Hardenberg and at times also King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Following the successful conclusion of the negotiations was on 27 June 1813 in a Silesian Reichenbach to the Convention of Reichenbach .

Current

In 2007, the noble family sued the Czech state for restitution of the art collection from the Renaissance chateau in Opočno in East Bohemia. However, a court decision by the District Court of Hradec Králové (Königgrätz) in October 2007 rejected this again in an appeal, so that the Colloredo-Mansfeld family now wants to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic.

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.radio.cz: The East Bohemian court ruled on the art collection in the Opočno Castle. ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. October 18, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radio.cz

Coordinates: 50 ° 15 ′ 53.5 ″  N , 16 ° 6 ′ 56.1 ″  E