Litomyšl Castle

The site of today's castle was once a bishop's palace, where the lords of Postupice ruled for over a hundred years. As soon as the uprising ended, the estate passed into the mortgage auction of the Pernštejn family. The first of them, Vratislav of Pernštejn, appeared here and found unsuitable spaces of an old palace affected by two fires here. What could he do? He wanted to live comfortably, so he decided to build a brand new building. The chateau building was built from 1568 to 1577, but in the following years the old palace was rebuilt, the northern wall was decorated with sgraffito and the chateau was completed by a chapel dedicated to St. Monica. The other owners became the Trauttmansdorfs, the Wallensteins - Vartemberks and the Thurn - Taxis.

The current Litomyšl chateau has five attractive circuits ready for its visitors. On the first tour, you will look into the interiors of the representation halls, figural sgraffito and the theater. The castle theater was built in the years 1796 - 1797 at the request of Count Jiří Josef Valdštejn-Vartemberk. The count's family played alone and invited their friends. They either played for themselves or invited people from the city. Conversational comedies became the main themes. Interest in the theater lasted until the 1840s and has survived as one of the few in Europe.

The second and third route of the chateau will delight especially children. They can see an exhibition of historic houses and dolls' rooms, or go to the castle tower full of ghosts. The fourth sightseeing route is a labyrinth of underground corridors and you will look under the castle grounds and walk 500 m underground. The last tour is focused on the exhibition of historical pianos and scenery from the castle theater.

Author: Petra Nachtmanová