Štáblovice
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Opava
- Address
- Štáblovice č.p. 64, 747 82 Štáblovice
The village of Štáblovice lies 10 km south-west of Opava (Troppau). It belonged to the feudal system of the Bishops of Olomouc, who granted it to various noblemen. It is first mentioned in 1312, when Mikuláš of Štáblovice resided here. The appellative indicates that his family resided in the village directly and thus attests to the existence of some form of residence. It was not until the late 15th century, under the lords of Kovalovice, that a manor surrounded by a water moat and earthwork was established in the southern part of the village. Its structure forms part of the east wing of the present château. The manor served its purpose under the lords of Žďár and the Vlks of Konecchlumí; the new owner Kašpar Rotmberk of Ketře (†1608) initiated an axial extension of the manor northward and southward. He also had the adjacent Church of St Lawrence remodelled in the Renaissance style and installed the family necropolis there. Following the confiscation of Štáblovice at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the seat was in 1649 recorded as derelict and requiring extensive repairs. The basic repairs were carried out by the new holder, the senior military commander of the city of Olomouc, Jan Lescourant. Under his descendant Karel František, in the 1730s and 1740s, the Renaissance manor was remodelled in the Baroque style: two perpendicular extensions towards the garden were built, which subsequent holders, the noble Sobek of Kornice family, extended to the present ground plan and extent. As a consequence of the abolition of patrimonial administration in 1850, the manorial buildings were cleared away in favour of a park layout, and minor changes were also made to the interiors. The Second World War left a negative imprint on the château through damage to the north-east corner and the destruction of the château chapel. From 1945 the owner was the Czechoslovak state and the local national committee, which in the 1960s converted the first floor into a communal hall. Thereafter the château was owned by the Silesian Museum in Opava, which used it as a storage depot but neglected its upkeep, allowing its structural condition to deteriorate — a situation that worsened after the château was sold to a private company. Only in 2001 did Kamil Kolek purchase the château and carry out a comprehensive restoration over the following ten years. In 2021 it was solemnly opened to the public. Visitors are offered one guided tour circuit, a café, and a freely accessible château park.