Mladá Boleslav (castle)
Finding the local castle in Mladá Boleslav is not difficult in the slightest. It is located right in the historic center of the city, so it can definitely not be overlooked. In 1972, the Museum of the Mladá Boleslav Region was located here, the exposition of which is partly devoted to the history of the castle and the town from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the history of the whole region.
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Interesting facts Mladá Boleslav (castle)
In the place where today's castle stands, there used to be a Slavic fortified settlement, which was founded by Prince Boleslav II. towards the end of the 10th century, and which occupied the watchtower of the present castle and the Old Town. During 11.-12. century, older wooden buildings were replaced by brick ones, and during the middle of the 13th century, a castle was built at the tip of the promontory. The rest of the fort was subsequently abandoned and called "Graves". The last castle castellan is Jaroslav from the Markvartice family, who worked here in 1262 and who had a castle built in Michalovice.
In 1344, the town from the Klenice valley was transferred to the position of Hroby by his descendants, and then they built a family seat in the place of the royal castle, which belonged to them until 1468, when the Tovačov family from Cimburk became its new owners.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the seat of Jan of Šelmberk was rebuilt in the spirit of late Gothic. Without compromising the defensive part of the castle, the castle rooms gained almost all the comfort of a castle.
Other reconstructions, this time already in the Renaissance style, were connected with the Krajíř family from Krajek and took place after the fire in 1555. Swedish troops had a devastating effect on the castle and the town during the Thirty Years' War. After it was completed, the building was in a desolate state, and during the second half of the 17th century, the Pricquey bell family used these spaces as their workshop.
During the first half of the 18th century, the castle underwent further reconstruction, this time for the purpose of barracks, in which there was a permanent garrison. The reconstruction, which was led by Ignatz Palliardi in the years 1752-53, involved an increase in the entire building by one floor, as well as the covering of both towers, and the addition of the north-western and north-eastern wings. The castle performed this function until 1940, when there was an internment center for Jews, until 1943. In the early 1950s, it began to serve as a textile warehouse and served these purposes until 1972.
The castle did not expect a thorough repair until the mid-1970s, and lasted until the early 1990s. Beginning in 1972, the state district archive and the city museum are located here.
Author: Andrea Štyndlová