Kroměříž Castle, Archiepiscopal castle in Kroměříž, Czech Republic

Kroměříž Castle is a former bishop's residence in the Czech Republic with a large art collection and extensive gardens surrounding the main building. The structure mixes Baroque elements with older architecture and functions today as both a museum and event venue.

Bishop Bruno of Schauenburg had a Gothic castle built here in the mid-13th century, and Stanislav I Thurzo converted it into a Renaissance residence around 1500. Swedish troops under Lennart Torstenson sacked it in 1643; Bishop Karel II of Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn then had it rebuilt in Baroque form to designs by Filiberto Lucchese and Giovanni Pietro Tencalla.

The picture gallery holds 538 paintings, the second most important collection in the Czech Republic. Its core was bought by Bishop Karel of Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn in Cologne in 1673, and it includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The music archive keeps sheet music by Mozart and Beethoven.

You can visit the main building and the gardens separately or together, and it is wise to plan time for both. The paths are well marked and accessible, but wear sturdy shoes since the grounds spread over a large area.

The Assembly Hall's ceiling painting is not a fresco but an oil on canvas, and the middle of its three large panels is an apotheosis of Bishop Hamilton by Franz Adolf von Freenthal. The hall was electrified in 1900 to a design by František Křižík.