Líšno
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Benešov
- Address
- Líšno 1, 257 51, Bystřice u Benešova
In the Sub-Blaník landscape near Benešov lies the village of Líšno, now part of the nearby town of Bystřice. The origins of Líšno go back to the 13th century and are associated with the lords of Dubá, who founded the castle of Kavčí hora in the region. After the mid-14th century, however, that setting no longer suited the powerful dynasty, and between 1375 and 1379, through the agency of Beneš of Dubá, a two-palace castle with a tower surrounded by a water moat was built at Líšno. The lords of Dubá held the castle in the following decades until, in the first half of the 15th century, Líšno passed to Jan of Smilkov called Sádlo and later into the possession of Petr Holický of Šternberk. Petr, who lived directly at Líšno, carried out a late Gothic reconstruction of the castle to improve its defensibility. Petr's grandson Otakar apparently initiated a Renaissance remodelling of the complex (attic gables on the northern façade, barrel vaults with groined ribs in the interiors). Otakar's daughter and heiress Dorota held Líšno even through the difficult 1620s, when she was burdened with fulfilling military deliveries and contributions. Her heiress was her daughter Anna Albertina, married to Wallenstein's officer Kristián Ilow. Anna Albertina is listed as owner of Líšno together with her daughter Dorota Viktorie Ilowová and her husband Josef Priami of Rovorat in the Berní rula tax register (1653). The war-exhausted and indebted estate could not, however, be maintained in its entirety, which led in 1667 to the division of Líšno — Anna Albertina took over the estate with the chateau, part of the town of Bystřice, and several villages, while Priami acquired the rest. In the possession of Líšno there followed Anna's son Petr Vilém Říčanský of Říčany and after him Karel Šebestián Říčanský of Říčany. Since he spent most of his time at his new estate of Čestice near Volyně, Karel decided in 1712 to sell the estate to his sister-in-law Marie Renata von Satzenhofen. The debts encumbering the estate proved impossible to service, and eventually in 1740 she sold the Líšno property to Lucie Kokořovcová of Kokořov. At that time the estate had a brewery, five inns, a sheep-fold, smithy, distillery, potash works, butcheries, bakeries, several mills and ponds, and hop gardens. Yet indebtedness drove Kokořovcová to a public auction of the entire estate, which was acquired by the Servite monastery in Prague — not at a fortunate moment, as Joseph II dissolved the monastery and Líšno was entrusted to the state religious fund. From there it was purchased by Arnošt Pachta of Rájov; the next owner was Baron Jakub Wimmer, and then in 1802 Jakub Ludvík of Pourtalès. His descendants subsequently held Líšno, and the last of them, Vilém, in 1872 sold the estate to the industrial entrepreneur Čeněk (Vincenc) Daněk, who was able to invest in the neglected Líšno. Between 1872 and 1886 Čeněk Daněk carried out a generous Romantic-style reconstruction, including the addition of a chapel. He also laid out a formal park on the site of the filled-in moat, with a pergola, pool, pavilion, and four statues representing the seasons. After Čeněk (elevated to the nobility in 1878 with the predicate von Esse) his son Oskar managed Líšno temporarily, and only after reaching his majority did the estate pass to Čeněk's son of the same name. In 1947 national administration was imposed on the chateau owing to Oskar's collaboration with the Nazis. By then a school of the Czechoslovak Red Cross was operating there, which maintained the chateau until the end of the millennium. In 2015 the present owner, the company TTP invest, a.s., purchased the chateau with its park and is restoring both to their original appearance as it existed under the Daněk family.