Chotěboř

Clasificación

Château

País

Chequia

Región

Havlíčkův Brod

Dirección

Riegrova 1, 583 01 Chotěboř

The single-storey Baroque château of Chotěboř is situated on the outskirts of the town of the same name, approximately 15 km north-north-east of Havlíčkův Brod. In 1356 Chotěboř obtained the right to build town walls, and shortly after 1361 a fortified manor was built by an unknown builder outside the town perimeter. In 1499 Mikuláš the Younger Trčka of Lípa and Lichnice acquired the manor, and Chotěboř remained in the possession of the Trčka of Lípa family until 1634, when their property was seized and Emperor Ferdinand II donated it to Jaroslav Sezima Rašín of Rýzmburk. The manor of that time was probably only a small manorial seat, which by the end of the 17th century no longer met the needs of its owners. The next owner, Vilém Leopold Kinský, therefore decided to build a new, more imposing seat in its place between 1701 and 1702 — the present château. The structure, in a predominantly early Baroque style, took the form of a four-wing, one-storey building of Italian type with an enclosed courtyard. In 1837 the château passed into the ownership of the Dobřenský of Dobřenice family, from which time it was inherited within this family line. During their ownership, between 1865 and 1870 part of the first floor was remodelled in the Neo-Renaissance style, and between 1870 and 1875 an extensive English-style park with rare tree species was laid out. During the restoration of the château after a fire in 1927, the destroyed hipped roof was replaced by a mansard roof; over the central projecting bay of the north façade a triangular gable with the Dobřenský coat of arms was added, as was a small belfry. The Dobřenský family resided at the Chotěboř château until 1948, when it was confiscated; its last owners, Jan Maxmilián Dobřenský and his wife Leopoldina, née Lobkowicz, emigrated to Canada. From 1952 the Civic Museum was housed in the château, which in 1966 eventually took the entire building into its administration and gradually ensured the necessary repairs and reconstruction of part of the château. Following the restitution after 1990, the château was returned to the Dobřenský (now Dobrzenský) family. They have continued the necessary restoration work and, by agreement, allowed the museum to remain in the château until the end of 2019. The château is today not open to the public and, by decision of the present owner Jan Dobrzenský, has been closed to the public including the château park since 2018.

Matěj Baťha (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0