Manětín Castle – one of the most beautiful Baroque castles in the Pilsen region
Please stay on the red carpet and, above all, don’t ask any questions – that will probably stick in my head forever. Our guide said this exactly 100 times during the tour of the beautiful baroque Manětín Castle.
But I wouldn’t have been able to ask any questions because the tour was only in Czech and we had the German text in a folder in front of us. It’s a shame that this is my first memory of the visit, because the castle is really worth seeing and I can only recommend a visit.
Arrival at Manětín Castle
Manětín Castle is located in a small town about 30 kilometers from Pilsen. The town square in front of the castle in Manětín is beautiful. It is decorated with stone sculptures by the sculptor Štěpán Borovec and his pupil Josef Herscher. We can still admire their works here today – figures of saints, stone vases, fountains or allegories of virtues. From the square, I have a great view of the street front of the castle. It really is bigger than you would expect for such a small town.
If you go through the archway, you reach the castle park. It is laid out in the style of a French garden with an English park. From here, the castle looks much more inviting and friendly to me. In the southernmost corner of the park are the buildings of the former brewery and the granary.
A brief history of the castle
The first written mention of Manětín dates back to 1169, when the Bohemian King Vladislav I donated the town and its surroundings to the Order of St. John.
They lived in the town until the beginning of the 15th century and only left after the Hussite Wars. Secular rulers took over the town.
The chateau in Manětín changed hands at first, but was taken over by the Hrobschitz family. In 1622, the Lažanský family took over the estate and remained the owners for over 300 years.
In September 1712, there was a devastating fire that severely damaged the chateau and the town. During this time, Count Wenceslas Josef Lazansky and his young wife Maria Gabriela Lazansky lived there. The then owner “seized the opportunity” and had the remains of the castle rebuilt and reconstructed in the Baroque style. The result was a castle complex with an elongated L-shaped ground plan. The count died three years after the catastrophe and the entire responsibility fell on his then twenty-year-old widow. Manětín experienced its greatest heyday under her rule.
There is a story that is still told about the countess today: It is said that Countess Lažanská had a vice, and that was her love of gambling. Once, while playing cards, she even bet the entire estate. The waiter Karásek – who looked into the cards of all the players while pouring the wine and realized that the countess would lose the game – decided to intervene. He knocked over the table with the wine. That was the end of the game and the countess was able to keep her possessions. After the countess realized who had saved her from her loss, she gave her servant a mill on the Střela River, which is still called the Karásek Mill today.
Manětín Castle was only nationalized after the Second World War. It was converted into apartments and offices for the state forestry department. Later, a small local history museum was established. At the end of the 1990s, it became possible to take part in guided tours of the castle.
Tour of Manětín Castle
The guided tour of the castle begins in the beautiful staircase. The main staircase features an impressive banister and some beautiful statues.
I particularly like the way the figures look up at the ceiling. It almost looks as if they are looking at the outstanding ceiling painting. This dates from the 18th century and it is still not known who painted it.
From the staircase, the tour now takes us through various rooms of the castle. Each room shows something special and our guide kept pointing out individual objects. Fortunately, these are also described in our accompanying text in German and I was also able to read up on the history very well.
In the anteroom, where guests used to wait to be received, I discover family trees on a wall. It’s actually a great idea to present your family history in this way.
We then enter the reception room, where several pictures of the family hang. Here we are told the family history in compact form, apparently not without little anecdotes, because I could detect a smile or two from the Czech listeners.
The private rooms of the family adjoin the public area of the castle. Some of the exhibits on display here really do come from the former owners of the castle, others are from the Baroque period and complement the overall picture perfectly.
After entering several rooms that were used quite differently in the past, we reach a long corridor. From there we reach a balcony with a wonderful view of the park. I find the pictures hanging on the walls very interesting. They are prints from the Spanish Riding School. We are told that some of the male members of the family were there. However, I didn’t quite understand whether they also learned the skills of riding there.
The corridor would actually lead further into the second half of the castle. However, this is not open to the public, so we return to the first wing of the castle to explore more of the family’s rooms.
My personal highlight is the library. There are books from the fields of science, religion, fiction and even travel reports. There is even a complete edition of Viennese newspapers from the years 1800-1810.
We continue through a corridor and reach the oratory of the church that stands right next to the palace. The church of St. John the Baptist could thus be reached by the family. Today you can look into the church through a closed window. In the past, the family used a staircase behind a small door to access the nave if necessary.
The 45-minute tour of the castle ends with a view of the church.
Tip:
There is a restaurant in Manětín Castle that offers hearty Czech cuisine and, of course, Czech beer.
It is possible to park for free in the immediate vicinity of the castle. Once at the square, a road leads down to the castle. There is a parking lot there.
In high season or when there is a wedding party, this parking lot can be full. In this case, drive around the grounds from the right, turn left twice and park your vehicle in the parking lot of the former hotel. You then walk through the castle park to the castle.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from OpenStreetMap. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Facebook. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Instagram. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from X. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
Leave a Reply