Neustupov
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Benešov
- Address
- Zámek Neustupov č.p. 1, 257 86 - Neustupov
The market town of Neustupov lies on the historic road from Votice to Mladá Vožice. Its origins reach back to the Romanesque period, although the connection with the vladyka Neustup mentioned in documents of 1185–1226 cannot be substantiated. By the 12th century a church was certainly standing at Neustupov. The village became at the latest in the 14th century the residence of the vladyka family of Neustupov, whose first known members, Vilém and Petr, exercised the patronage right over the church jointly with the vladykas of Soběšín. The Gothic upper-storey manor at Neustupov beside the church was clearly visible as late as 1652 ("the old castle"). The families writing themselves of Neustupov and of Soběšín were apparently related and alternated in possession of the Neustupov estate until the mid-15th century. Jan Neustupovský of Slavkov (†1545) had a son Kuneš, who for lack of a male heir transferred the entire estate to his wife Alžběta of Malovic. The heiress of Neustupov was then the daughter of Kuneš and Alžběta, Eva, married to Kašpar Kaplíř of Sulevice. Eva, described by contemporaries as a highly astute businesswoman, is also credited with the construction of the Renaissance chateau that replaced the old and by her time certainly inconvenient manor. Directly opposite the manor, a single-storey chateau building of rectangular plan was built with sgraffito decoration. This was the present eastern wing, to which later (perhaps at the beginning of the 17th century) the western wing was joined at right angles. Kašpar Kaplíř of Sulevice became, after his wife's death, a prominent actor in the second Estates' uprising and the oldest man executed in the Old Town execution of 1621 (commemorated by a memorial plaque above the main entrance). His estates, including Neustupov, were confiscated and in 1627 assigned in favour of the regiment of General Balthasar Marradas. Three years later they were sold to an officer and feared enforcer of re-Catholicisation, don Martín de Hoeff-Huerta. After his death (1633) various owners succeeded in possession of Neustupov, which by 1654 comprised, in addition to the small town, 15 villages. Among the more notable were (from 1695) the Dohalský of Dohalic. However, already in 1712 Neustupov had to be compulsorily sold again for debts, and in the following decades rapid changes of owner continued. Only from 1809 did the Prague burgher family of Rommbald hold Neustupov for a longer period. The estate at that time comprised four demesne farms, two sheep-folds, and several ponds and was inhabited by a total of 1,337 "souls" (including the Jewish population). The estate manager had an apartment and office in the chateau. In 1887 Anton Rommbald sold Neustupov to Karel and Marie Kraus, from whom in 1892 Count Vladimír of Aichelburg acquired it for his wife Helena. The couple initiated minor construction work (at the chateau, for example, a corner polygonal turret was added), and the chateau park underwent significant alterations. The Aichelburgs were, however, deprived of Neustupov after 1948 and the chateau was transferred to the Local National Committee, which used it as a medicines warehouse. After 1989 the building was returned in restitution to Vladimír Aichelburg; from 2000 the chateau was the property of the company INTEC — export a import. The current owner (from 2020) is restoring the chateau, organising cultural events there, and plans to open it to the public. The silhouette of Neustupov Chateau is complemented by a 600-year-old monumental lime tree.