Dobříš
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Příbram
- Address
- 263 01 Dobříš č. 1
The Rococo chateau in the Central Bohemian town of Dobříš is an extensive three-winged building with a French garden and a large English landscape park. The chateau together with the park has been inscribed on the list of immovable cultural monuments of the Czech Republic since 1965. The predecessor of the present chateau was the hunting lodge of Vargač, founded in the 14th century by John of Luxembourg above the nearby Huťský pond. In 1630 it was purchased by Count Bruno of Mansfeld and Heldrunck, whose descendants owned it until 1780. In 1720, however, the castle burned down and during the subsequent reconstruction was adapted as a granary. The new chateau on the site of the nearby old manor house was probably begun by František Maxmilián Mansfeld in the third quarter of the 17th century. The next owner, Karel František Adam Antonín Mansfeld, had the chateau adapted at the beginning of the 18th century to designs by the architect František Maxmilián Kaňka. The chateau received its definitive form under Jindřich Pavel František Mansfeld, who between 1745 and 1765 had the original Baroque structure — damaged by fire — remodelled as a magnificent Rococo residence. The reconstruction was carried out to designs by the French architect Jules Robert de Cotte the Younger. The decoration of the chateau interiors was the work primarily of the stucco artist Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni, the sculptor František Ignác Platzer, and the painter Jan Petr Molitor. The French garden, which formed part of the improvements to the chateau's surroundings, was later extended around 1800 to include an English landscape park. When the Mansfeld family died out in the male line in 1780, the Dobříš estate passed to Marie Isabela Mansfeldová. In 1771 she married Prince František Gundakar Colloredo, thereby becoming co-foundress of the present Colloredo-Mansfeld dynasty. The chateau at Dobříš remained in the ownership of the noble family of Colloredo-Mannsfeld almost until the mid-20th century. In 1942, however, the chateau was expropriated in favour of the German Reich. In 1945 it was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state, and from this time until the 1990s it served as the Writers' Home under the auspices of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers. In 1998 it was physically returned to the descendants of the former owners, the Colloredo-Mansfeld family. The current owner of the chateau is Dipl. Ing. Jerome Colloredo-Mannsfeld (*1949). Dobříš Chateau and its parks are open year-round. The chateau offers several guided tour routes. The local stables are used for weddings; the mirror hall also hosts wedding ceremonies, concerts, and other cultural events. Since 2006 a four-star hotel has been open in the northern wing of the chateau building. The estate also has its own Chateau Restaurant. In 2020, after several years of work, a major reconstruction of the French garden and orangery was completed, supported by European Union funding.
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