Radvanov

Classification

Château

Pays

Tchéquie

Région

Tábor

Adresse

Mladá Vožice, č.p. 1, 391 43, Mladá Vožice

In the undulating landscape of northern Táborsko, near Mladá Vožice, lies the village of Radvanov, dominated by a late Baroque chateau. The village itself is first mentioned by the person of Jan of Radvanov, who died in 1399 and whose predicate suggests that a manorial seat stood in the village. The predicate of Radvanov was also used by the knightly family of Jenšík, which appeared in the Táboro region from the close of the 15th century. By 1525 at the latest a demesne farm also stood at Radvanov, which in the following years was sold several times but remained consistently in the possession of the Jenšík of Radvanov family, as the tax registers of the early 17th century confirm. With Dorota Jenšíková, Radvanov was acquired by marriage by Petr Lhotka of Smyslova, who guided the small estate through the entire turbulent period of the Thirty Years' War. The register of subjects by faith in 1651 recorded six persons inhabiting an unspecified manorial seat and 18 subjects in the village. The granddaughter of Petr Lhotka, Lidmila, married Bedřich Vavřinec Jeník of Bratřice in 1694, thereby introducing a new noble family to Radvanov. Bedřich's son Josef Jiří during the first half of the 18th century initiated a fundamental building development of the Radvanov seat, when a late Baroque chateau with garden and park was built opposite the demesne farm (apparently with a residential function). The aforementioned Josef Jiří's son Jan Jeník of Bratřice was also born here — a patriotic officer who left valuable memoirs and appeared, among others, in the work of Alois Jirásek. Through the marriage of his sister Kateřina, Radvanov passed to František Josef Vratislav of Mitrovic, but already in 1794 the estate was purchased at auction by Countess Terezie Trautmannsdorff; the Trautmannsdorffs were then succeeded in possession of Radvanov by the České Budějovice municipal councillor Josef Kalina, who initiated a succession of exclusively burgher owners. At the end of the first quarter of the 19th century the Radvanov property comprised the chateau with the estate manager's apartment and the village with 32 house numbers; a brewery and distillery operated in the farm. Sometime between 1830 and 1880 the farm acquired an entirely new appearance. Perhaps the distillery was built then; the farm complex also contained a carriage house and stables. At the beginning of the 20th century Radvanov had over 90 hectares of arable land, 36 hectares of forest, and 8 hectares of meadows. The brewery with distillery continued to operate profitably, and a brick works also yielded income for the succession of owners. Between 1916 and 1919, under Otakar Tůma, Radvanov underwent an extensive remodelling in the Neo-Classical style; the farm buildings were also altered. In 1936 a bronze memorial plaque to Jan Jeník of Bratřice was set into the chateau façade. In 1945 the chateau passed to the use of the Ministry of Information of the Czechoslovak Republic and subsequently to the administration of the National Restoration Fund, which had an administrative building erected there. Later, for example, a charitable house was located here, and Radvanov also became a place of internment for several church dignitaries, including Bishop Štěpán Trochta and Archbishop Josef Beran. In the 1980s garages were built in front of the staircase, and the agricultural buildings were taken over by the local agricultural cooperative in the 1950s. Radvanov Chateau has been in the ownership of the Bystrianský family since 2000. Over the years the family has carried out a comprehensive restoration of the chateau interiors and exteriors, removing the Socialist Realist treatment and returning the chateau to its appropriate historical condition. The administrative building was reconstructed and converted into a boutique-style guesthouse. Other restored buildings include the granary, which was likewise brought back to its original state. The chateau building serves for cultural events such as concerts and art exhibitions organised by the family, while the fully restored park is used for sporting activities including an annual tennis tournament.

MartinVeselka (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0