Chateau Strážnice

It was built on the site of a water castle from the 13th century, which was to play a guard role near the Moravian-Hungarian border. Its owner was Milota from Dědice and after him the castle was owned by the lords of Kravaře. Due to its location, the castle in Strážnice was a frequent target of Turkish and Hungarian troops, and later it was also anti-Hussite troops that tried to conquer the castle. Jiří z Kravař therefore decided to encircle the castle with a rampart and a moat and also had it rebuilt in the Gothic style.

In 1466, Alžběta, the daughter of Jiří z Kravař, became the owner of the guard estate. After Elizabeth's husband died, she remarried to Peter of Rosenberg. In 1468, the castle witnessed the meeting of the Hungarian king Matyáš Korvín with George of Poděbrady, and a peace treaty was concluded there.

In 1501 the estate was owned by the Žerotín family. The reconstruction of the castle into a Renaissance chateau was carried out by Jan Jetřich of Žerotín, while the east wing and the connecting north wing, decorated with arcades, were also added.

After the Battle of Bílá Hora, the chateau was owned by the Counts of Magnis, who in the middle of the 19th century contributed to the reconstruction of the chateau in the Neo-Renaissance style, the construction of greenhouses and the establishment of a local park. The corner tower at the left wing of the chateau was built under the ownership of Count František Antonín Magnis.

The last aristocratic owner of the Strážnice chateau was Antonín Magnis. After his death in 1944, a year later the castle was nationalized.

The Strážnice chateau consists of three wings in a U-shaped floor plan. An octagonal clock tower adjoins the left wing of the chateau, and on the ground floor, barrel vaults from the original Gothic castle have been preserved to this day.

Inside the castle there is a significant and valuable library with 13,000 volumes of books, some of which date back to the 16th century. The library is decorated with period furniture.

The castle exposition also includes an exhibition entitled Instruments of Folk Music in the Czech Republic and an exhibition in the castle chapel, which changes every year. The exhibition focused on folk music instruments includes drums, buzzards, trumpets and more.

The pink, green and yellow lounges occasionally host classical music concerts, and the local castle park hosts the International Folklore Festival during the last weekend in June.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová