Lobkovice
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Mělník
- Address
- Palackého 20, 277 11 Neratovice – Lobkovice
Lobkovice Chateau is an originally medieval manor, later rebuilt as a Renaissance and Baroque chateau, situated at Lobkovice, today part of Neratovice. The chateau has been a listed monument since 1958 and has been inscribed on the list of cultural monuments of the Czech Republic since 1966. The earliest references to the manor date from 1403, when it belonged to the Prague burgher Prokop Krukner. In 1409 the manor was acquired by the founder of the Lobkowicz dynasty, Mikuláš of Újezd, who soon began to use the predicate of Lobkowicz. In 1445 Lobkovice fell to the son of Mikuláš of Újezd, Jan Popel. Between 1450 and 1451 the manor was briefly occupied by the forces of Jiří of Poděbrady. The Lobkovice manor subsequently passed to Albrecht Jiří of Očedělic. After frequent changes of owner it was acquired in 1496 by Beneš Sekera of Sedčice. The Sekera of Sedčice family rebuilt the original stone manor as a small Renaissance chateau. His descendant Jan Ratibor Sekerka of Sedčice sold Lobkovice in 1615 to the burgher Václav Majský of Sobíšek, who resold it a year later to Polyxena of Pernštejn. She gave the chateau to her husband Zdeněk Lobkowicz as a 47th birthday present, and the chateau thus returned after many years to the possession of the Lobkowicz family. The chateau then became merely an administrative centre for the estate and a residence for officials. During the Thirty Years' War the chateau was looted several times and fell into ruin. Repair and reconstruction of the building took place only in 1679 under Prince Ferdinand August of Lobkowicz, to designs by the Italian architect Antonio della Porta. In 1829 Ferdinand Josef of Lobkowicz sold Lobkovice to the Prague lawyer Jan Měchura, who had the chateau rebuilt again. His daughter Terezie, who inherited the chateau in 1840, was the wife of František Palacký. Palacký was greatly attached to the chateau and frequently stayed there. His son Jan Palacký sold the chateau in 1897 to Prince Mořic of Lobkowicz, and the chateau remained in the possession of the Lobkowicz family until 1948, when it became state property administered by the Local National Committee at Lobkovice. In the early 1980s the Faculty of Arts of Charles University took over the chateau and began adapting it as a study centre and library depository. After 1989 the chateau was returned in restitution to a descendant of the Roudnice branch of the Lobkowicz family, Alexander Lobkowicz (*1948), great-grandson of the 10th Prince Ferdinand Zdeněk of Lobkowicz (1858–1938). The current owner is his son Maximilian Lobkowicz.
Alexandre de Ridder (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0