Konopiste

Konopiste Castle was founded by the Benesovec family in the forested region of the valley of the River Sazava in 1300. It is a mature example of the French style of medieval fortification, and is unique in this country. Its rectangular ground plan was divided into a larger outer bailey in the west and the inner castle in the eastern part. Seven round towers lined the periphery of the fortification walls. After 1500 the residential palace wing was modified. In the early 17th century the outer bailey was adapted in the Renaissance style. A radical change in the appearance of the castle came about at the end of the first quarter of the 18th century, when Konopiste was converted into a Baroque chateau to designs by the architect Kanka. Its towers were lowered at the same time. The final chapter of the buildings architectural history is connected with the name of Ferninand d'Este. It was home to the Archduke, whose assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 triggered the First World War.

distances: 35 km from centre of Prague

Karlstejn

Featuring the most popular castle outside Prague, the village of Karlstejn is 28 km to the southwest of the city along the Berounka River. The towering Gothic castle dominates the village from the heights on which it was built by Matthias of Arras for King Charles IV from 1348 to 1357. The part of the village that lies directly below the castle was originally known as Budnany, but was later incoporated into the larger village along the river.

Charles IV one of the most popular Czech historical figures, thanks to his huge contribution to the Czech Lands and especially to Prague. He had the castle built as a summer retreat from the city he made great, and as a vast safe for the crown jewels, from both the Czech Kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire (since Charles was Emperor), kept behind 19 different locks. King Sigismund removed the Imperial jewels to Hungary in 1420 because of the threat of Hussite attack and the Czech crown jewels were moved to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague in 1619. The castle's highest tower is the site of its greatest treasure, the Chapel of the Holy Rood, which has six-meter thick walls inlaid with semi-precious stones, and features 128 paintings of saints by the great Czech painter from the 14th century, Master Theodoric. Only the Emperor, the Archbishop and the electoral princes of the Empire were allowed to enter this chamber. Other important sections of the castle include the Church of Our Lady in the smaller tower, which has a number of Gothic paintings, as well as the adjoining Chapel of St. Catherine (sv. Katerina), where Charles was known to withdraw from the affairs of state and which is also lavishly decorated with semi-precious stones and paintings. When Charles IV was king, women were absolutely barred from entering the castle, though the story of his wife Anna sneaking into the castle disguised as a man is a favorite in Czech folklore. The castle has been a popular tourist destination since the early 19th century, and it underwent somewhat heavy-handed renovation in the years 1887-1899.

distances: 40 km from centre of Prague

Veltrusy

Situated to the north of Prague, on the right bank of the Vltava river, is the municipality of Veltrusy. Visitors to Veltrusy will be attracted by a chateau that is ranked alongside Bohemia's major high-Baroque residences and a park interspersed with romantic follies, sculptures and garden pavilions - the most remarkable are The Laudon Pavilion, The Maria Theresa Pavilion, The Doric Pavilion, The Egyptian Cabinet, The Temple of Friends of the Country and Gardens, The Bridge with Sphinx, and The Artificial Cave with a Ruin. The park was landscaped from a one-time alluvial forest which surrounded farmland and buildings occupying an island formed there by two arms of the river and called appropriately Ostrov (the Isle). The park is also biologically very interesting. Many rare plants can be found there, as well as an old raven reserve. But most attractive is the fallow-deer park.

Early written records of the existence of a settlement there date from the 12th century when it was listed under the name of Velprideh. By the 13th century the then village became the property of the monastery of Doksany. Its new owners changed the place's name to Veltrusy. From the 17th century the history of the whole area was linked with the Czech baronial family of the Choteks of Chotkov and Vojnin. In 1899 the village was granted the status of a town.

The name of the proprietor was indelibly linked with major changes in the park. Adaptation work there started in the wake of a great flood of 1764 which had destroyed the French garden together with a part of the park. Still in Rudolf Chotek's time the immediate environs of the chateau had been cleared of trees, to make the building's architecture prominently visible from various angles. Subsequent landscaping of the park was determined by the then new approach to nature, which marked a radical turn in garden and park architecture. This entailed a trend towards preserving nature in its unrestrained form and the transformation of its cultivated segments to parks, giving rise to the local variety of landscaped park called, in reference to its original models, the English park. Using the advice and expertise of Europe's leading specialists, Johann Rudolf Chotek was involved in introducing this new type of park architecture to his estate. The shape of the Veltrusy park was affected by another two floods, in 1784 and 1785. It then developed to include a fully functional "decorative" farmsstead and an array of romantic follies (some of which have survived to the present time), while cultivation projects were launched to enhance the alluvial forest, and rare trees and other plant species were brought in.

distances: 25 km from centre of Prague

Hluboka

This royal castle was founded in the mid-13th century on the border of the field of influence of the Premyslid rulers and the South Bohemina Vitkovicz magnates. During the 15th and 16th centuries direct royal administration ended and it was pledged to a succession of Czech lords, including the Pernstejns among the most important of them. Vilem of Pernstejn laid the foundations for commercial fishing in Sough Bohemia. One of the fishing lakes that he had dug was the nearby Bezdrev Pond. In the 16th century Hluboka was in the ownership of the lords of Hared. In 1581 Baltazar Maio da Ronio rebuilt the castle for Adam Hradec, converting it into a Renaissance chateau. During the Thirty Years War Hluboka was the seat of the imperial general don Baltazar de Marradas, who surrounded it with and extensive fortification system. In 1661 the Hluboka property was purchased by the Schwarzenbergs, who had the chateau rebuilt in Baroque style (by Pavel I. Bayer in 1707-1721, and Antonio E. Martinelli in 1721-1728). However, the castle was to be rebuilt once again. After the Schwarzenbergs moved their main seat from Cesky Krumlov, it was completely remodeled from 1841 to 1871, to designs by Frantisek Beer with the participation of F. D. Deworetzky and others. The exterior is in the strictly romantic Neo-Gothic style, while the interiors are more broadly historicist. This was the result of shifting tastes, as interest increased in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as with an endeavor to display the family collections of furniture, paintings, arms and tapestries.

distances: 160 km from centre of Prague