Uhřice
- Classification
- Château
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Kroměříž
- Address
- Uhřice 18, 768 33 Uhřice
The village of Uhřice lies approximately 20 km west of Kroměříž. In the centre of the village, in a picturesque park, stands a two-storey Classicist château with a hipped roof, which has been recorded as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic since 1973. The first mention of an estate, and probably also of a manor, in Uhřice dates from 1336. Its owner at that time was Vrchoslav of Uherce. In January 1371 the manor was granted by the Margrave to Jan Půta of Holštejn. Further owners included Jakub of Dřínov and later his brother Jan of Dřínov. In 1499 Uhřice was owned by Jan Miňovský of Lazník at Mouřínov, and the Miňovskýs probably also built the palace on the site of the original manor. In 1610 Uhřice passed to the Žalkovský of Žalkovic family, but following the post-White Mountain conflict their property was confiscated and taken over by the Olomouc provost Jan Arnošt Platejs of Platenstein. After the Thirty Years' War, during which virtually the whole of Uhřice was destroyed, Hoffmann of Grünbüchl purchased the estate in 1655 and had the Uhřice château rebuilt. From 1703 Uhřice was owned by Zuzana Terezie Gellhorn, under whom in 1723 the château assumed its present ground plan, though it was then only one storey. Under Michael Václav Chorinský the château underwent its most significant alterations in 1764, the most remarkable of which was the conversion of the château chapel into a public chapel in 1774. The most substantial alteration was carried out after a fire in 1791, with the addition of a second storey with a mansard roof and a small tower with a clock. In 1810 Ignác Bedřich of Friedrichstal purchased the Uhřice château at auction; the Friedrichstals and the Jenison Walworth family together owned the château until the early years of the Second World War. The subsequent heirs, the Bošček siblings, had the château confiscated from them at the end of the Second World War. In the years that followed, a school, apartments, a pub, and storage facilities were housed there, all of which required various unsuitable building interventions, such as the breaking through of certain internal partition walls. In the 1990s the château was returned to the restitution claimants, who, however, completely neglected maintenance owing to complicated ownership relations. The unmaintained château began to fall into disrepair and around 2001 was entered on the list of monuments at risk of destruction. This situation persisted until 2003, when the current owner Josef Paul Jarka purchased the Uhřice château and began, in close cooperation with the heritage protection authorities, gradually to restore the building, thereby saving it from literally collapsing. The château complex is not open to the public, though visitors who come requesting a tour will not be refused.