Račice Castle, Renaissance château in Račice-Pistovice, Czech Republic

Račice Castle is a three-towered Renaissance château with Empire-style alterations, standing on a spur above the Račický potok valley southwest of Račice village. Hans Haugwitz rebuilt the Gothic castle into a three-winged residence between 1570 and 1585, and Jan Mundy gave it its Empire form after 1830. Its courtyard arcades, raised to three storeys and fitted with large windows, carry rich relief decoration.

A castle was built between 1275 and 1285, likely by Milota of Švábenice, who named himself after Račice from 1285. After Friduš of Linava seized it, King John had it conquered and demolished in 1312; it was soon restored. Hans Haugwitz rebuilt the Gothic castle as a three-winged Renaissance château between 1570 and 1585, and Jan Mundy gave it its Empire-style form after buying it in 1830.

The castle's name comes from the village of Račice, first recorded in the will of Kojata IV of Hrabišice. Since summer 2020 the former representative rooms have opened to visitors on guided tours, and the courtyard serves refreshments. The six-sided fountain with a statue of Fortuna, commissioned in 1598 from the stonemason Alexander Kohout, stands in the courtyard.

The castle opened to the public for the first time in summer 2020, when guided tours of the former representative rooms began during the summer holidays. Overnight stays are in the forecourt, in tourist-class rooms and apartments with 68 beds, mostly four-bed rooms sharing sanitary facilities. The main building is awaiting conversion into a wellness hotel.

The hexagonal fountain on the courtyard, carved by stonemason Alexander Kohout of Archlebov from 1598, carries a statue of Fortuna, probably by sculptor G. Gialdi. Hans von Petřvald ordered it during his late-Renaissance rebuilding, which was finished in 1618.