Lešná Castle, Art Nouveau château in Štípa, Czech Republic.
Lešná Castle is a historicist château built in 1887–1894 to designs by Viennese architects Johann Mick and Viktor Siedek, who took over after Mick's death in 1890. It stands on a wooded hill in Štípa, surrounded by the Zoo Zlín grounds, and has a richly articulated roof with dormers, turrets and chimneys, plus balconies, stone balustrades and terraces.
The Seilern counts moved their estate offices from the decaying Lukov castle to Lešná, where a pheasantry was established in 1804 and a first château built in 1806; a baroque residence with a tower wing followed in 1809–1810. That building was demolished in 1887, and Franz Seilern had the present historicist château built between 1887 and 1894 to designs by Viennese architects Johann Mick and, after Mick's death in 1890, Viktor Siedek. The family held it until 1945.
The castle stands in the game preserve that Count Josef Jan Seilern established at Lešná in 1804, and its name comes from that wooded hill. The Seilern family kept the estate until 1945, when they were forced to move to Litschau in Austria and the property was confiscated.
The castle stands inside the grounds of Zoo Zlín in Štípa, about seven kilometres northeast of Zlín, between Fryšták and Lukov, with the Fryšták reservoir to the east. The 52-hectare English-style park laid out in 1884–1888 surrounds it, and the zoo that replaced Count Seilern's private animal park in 1948 now occupies the same grounds.
The castle's interiors had central heating, electricity, running hot and cold water, a house telephone and flush toilets when it was rebuilt in 1887–1894. Its second, attic floor held guest rooms, while the owner's family occupied the first floor.
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