Czechia - Děčín Castle

Děčín Castle

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops, when it served as a dilapidated barracks, today the extensive Baroque chateau represents a prouddominant of the city of Děčín and at the same time an exemplary example of the restoration of significant historical architectural and cultural heritage. Originally a Přemyslid castle, it passed into the hands of the powerful Vartenberk family in the 14th century. It's more significant transformationtook place in the second half of the 16th century, when it was in the possesson of the Saxon familyof knights from Bünau. The current appearance is the work of the Thun-Hohe count family, former ownersof the Děčín estate in the years 1628-1932.

| Tea Pavilion, Castle Southern Terraces | Rose garden with gloriette | View from the gloriette |

| View of the castle from the Shepherd's Wall | Castle and the steamboat on the Elbe | Castle from Tyrš Bridge |

| Castle Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross | Gardener's house, castle's southern terraces | The long drive to the castle |

Sent by Petra from Česká Kamenice, Czechia.

The forerunner of the Děčín Castle was a wooden fortress built towards the end of the 10th century by the Bohemian princes controlling the surrounding Děčín province. The first written record of the province dates from 993 A.D. and of the fortress itself from 1128. In the thirteenth century this original wooden structure was rebuilt in stone as a royal castle that, under unknown circumstances, fell into the hands of the powerful Wartenberg dynasty around 1305.

No one knows exactly how this medieval castle looked. However, we can say with some certainty that it was divided into two sections – the upper (rear) and lower (forward) parts, which each operated more or less independently. This layout endured until the end of the 18th century, and even survived siege and fire in 1444. Numerous later renovations, however, erased all but fragments of the original medieval semblance of the castle. A significant change to the castle came in the second half of the 16th century when it was held by the Saxon Knights of Bünau, who gradually rebuilt the lower castle into a Renaissance palace with a grand ceremonial hall. Rudolph of Bünau had the walls adorned with life-size portraits of 22 members of the Bünau clan. Remodeling at the end of the eighteenth century destroyed these murals. Fortunately, their likenesses, commissioned in 1775, were recently discovered in the collections of the National Museum in Prague (read more).