Litomyšl Castle
Renaissance arcade castle with Baroque additions, a UNESCO site.
Litomyšl Castle is one of the largest Renaissance castles in the Czech Republic, located in the centre of the town of Litomyšl. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The castle is an outstanding example of the arcade castle type, first developed in Italy and modified in the Czech lands, with High-Baroque features added in the 18th century.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Litomyšl, Czech Republic
- Includes
- Litomyšl Palace Theatre
- Area
- 4.25 ha / 0.016 sq mi
- Buffer zone
- 118.13 ha / 0.456 sq mi
Facts from the source article.
History
The town of Litomyšl first took shape in the 1200s along a key trade link between Bohemia and Moravia. Construction of the castle began in 1568 under the direction of Jan Baptista Avostalis and his brother Oldřich, with the main structure largely finished by 1580. The Pernštejn family held the castle from 1567 until 1646, when the last of their line, Frebonie, died. In 1649, the Trauttmansdorff family took over and hired František Maxmilián Kaňka to give the castle a classicist Baroque makeover during the early 1700s. The Counts Waldstein bought it in 1758, and Georg Josef von Waldstein-Wartenberg added a theater. The Princes of Thurn and Taxis became the final private owners in 1855. The composer Bedřich Smetana was born in 1824 in the Brewery, a building next to the castle. Following World War II, the castle was taken over under the Beneš decrees and was named a national cultural monument in 1962. Since 1949, it has hosted the Smetanová Litomyšl Opera Festival. In 1994, President Václav Havel invited seven Central European presidents to meet there. The whole complex, carefully restored in recent years, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It is now open to visitors, who can tour the state rooms and the former private apartments of Prince Albert of Thurn and Taxis and his wife.
Description
Litomyšl Castle is a three-story building with four unevenly arranged wings. The west wing is the largest, while the south wing is the smallest, forming a two-story arcaded gallery that encloses a square courtyard. Arcades and groin vaults line this courtyard. The east wing holds the castle chapel, and the west wing houses a theatre with its original stage decorations, machinery, and auditorium still intact. Other structures on the grounds include a brewery, rebuilt after a 1726 fire by architect František Maxmilián Kaňka, plus an English-style park and a Baroque pavilion.
More in World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic
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