Sights > Castles > Opočno
17.3.2010 Zuzka / Number of presentasion: 236
Trčkovo náměstí 1, 517 73 Opočno
GPS: 50° 15' 54" N 16° 06' 55" E
50.2648988 50.2648988
Tel.: +420 494 668 216 / E-mail
The complex of the Opočno Chateau was founded on the place of medieval fortified settlement, which according to the Kosmas´ Chronicle was situated on the old merchant path since the year 1068.The castle was conquered and devastated in 1425 during the Hussite wars. The Trček of Lípa family rebuilt its ruins into a Renaissance chateau in the mid-16th century. Broad-minded concept and big family property supposed the construction of an extent complex. The chateau building got rectangular floor plan around the inner courtyard, into which open arcade galleries with slim Tuscan columns, which connect all the rooms of the chateau. The façade is decorated by lively graffiti decoration. The part of the chateau facing the town, surrounded by a moat and had a defence function. A part of the complex is the Bowling Hall, a one-floor summerhouse connected by a corridor with the chateau and its chapel.
After the battle on the White Mountain in 1620 the Krček property was confiscated and its new owner became Rudolph Colloredo, the officer of the imperial military forces. In the early 18th century the Colloredo family realized some Baroque changes of the chateau according to the design by G.B.Alliprandi. In 1813 in the chateau the Russian Tsar Alexander I, Prussian King Frederick William III and the Austrian minister of foreign affairs Metternich held a war meeting against Napoleon. In the 19th century the chateau went through architectural changes in the style of Classicism. One arcade wing was demolished, the courtyard opened into the park, which in 1806 – 1820 was designed in the valley. The English landscape park stretches in the valley of Zlatý potok (Golden Stream) on the area of 22 hectares. Here we can find rare trees, little ponds with artificial waterfalls, a Chinese pavilion, as well as a cave for a hermit. Behind the park there is deer park.
In the chateau the historic interiors with original equipment and valuable art collections are accessible to the public as well as the ethnographic objects from Africa and America, the picture gallery with works by Italian, Dutch and Czech masters, the library containing 12 000 books and the armoury with one of the biggest collections of arms in the Czech Republic. It includes weapons since antiquity up to the 19th century. Unique African and American Indian weapons are represented here as well.