You will find the Nelahozeves Castle 35 km north of Prague – it sits high above the Vltava River, in the picturesque village of Nelahozeves. Apart from being a location for this stately residence, the village is also famous as the birthplace of the great Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.
History
Dating back to the late 1500s, Nelahozeves Castle is a privately-owned building, which has belonged to the Lobkowicz family since the 17th century. Originally it was built for the Tyrolean aristocrat Florian Griesbeck von Griesbach, who served at the court of Ferdinand I, but due to financial difficulties his family had to sell the encumbered estate to Polyxena, 1st Princess Lobkowicz.
Despite its impressive and noble character, the castle never served as the principal residence of the Lobkowicz - it was rather used as the center for managing other family estates. In 1948, the Communist government confiscated the property, but the Nelahozeves chateau was restituted to its owners in 1993.
The Castle & Collections
Construction of the castle, which is now considered an outstanding example of Bohemian Renaissance, took over 60 years. Florian von Griesbach had quite an ambitious plan in mind - the design of the so-called castello fortezza was inspired by Italian Mannerist architecture. It features faux architectural defenses, such as decorative bastions, and intricate sgraffito decoration with scenes from Greek mythology and the Old Testament.
Visitors can explore 12 rooms of the castle and get a wonderful insight into the life of Bohemian nobility, as well as all Central Europe over the course of several centuries.
On display you will see period furniture and china tableware, musical instruments, vintage weapons and hunting memorabilia, the family archive and portraits. The most important highlight, of course, is the valuable collection of art, which includes paintings by Rubens, Brueghel, Panini, Sassoferrato and Veronese.
