Lichtenwald, Baroque hunting lodge on Bradáčov summit, Český Jiřetín, Czech Republic.
Lichtenwald is a late-baroque hunting lodge on the summit of Bradáčov (876 m) about 3 km south of Český Jiřetín. Its buildings—the main lodge with a mansard roof, a forester's house, gatehouse, stables and wagon sheds—stand visibly built of wood around an oval courtyard entered through a pillared gate. A 1.5 km tree-lined avenue, the Zámecká alej, branches off the Klíny–Fláje road and leads to the lodge.
The complex was built between 1761 and 1767 when Emanuel Filibert von Waldstein commissioned architect JM Rüttig from Bílina to design it for Princess Marie Anna Theresia von Liechtenstein. Its construction occurred during an era when hunting lodges became fashionable status symbols for European noble families.
The baroque design shows how nobles in the 18th century expressed their passion for hunting and displayed their power through isolated structures in wild places. The hilltop position was deliberate, meant to emphasize the owner's importance.
The lodge stands on the summit of Bradáčov (876 m), about 3 km south of Český Jiřetín; a 1.5 km tree-lined avenue, Zámecká alej, branches off the Klíny–Fláje road. The buildings are privately owned and neither the interiors nor the oval courtyard are open to the public, so the complex can only be seen from outside.
In 1848 Wapiti deer were bred on the grounds, as the German Wikipedia article on the lodge records. The same article notes that a straight avenue once ran southeast from the buildings to the forester's house Jiřík (Georgshöhe) near the Wieselstein.
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