Častolovice Castle, Renaissance castle in Hradec Králové Region, Czech Republic.
Častolovice Castle is a residence with Renaissance features and a central courtyard located in the Hradec Králové Region. The property is surrounded by a spacious English garden, and its interior walls display restored frescoes that preserve the original decoration.
The castle began as a Gothic fortress in the 13th century and gained its current Renaissance appearance through extensive rebuilding at the end of the 16th century. This transformation under new ownership gave the structure its function as a residential palace and defined its character for centuries to come.
The castle's picture gallery in the dining hall holds a cycle of portraits of Bohemian rulers from 1453 to 1705, painted for Adam II of Hradec and brought here through the 1654 marriage of Anna Lucia Slavata to Adolf Wratislaw of Sternberg. The Knights' Hall walls carry portraits of the Sternberg and Slavata families, and its coffered ceiling has twenty-four panels with Old Testament scenes.
Visitors should wear comfortable footwear since the grounds are expansive and some pathways may be unpaved. Most people plan two to three hours to explore both the building and its surroundings thoroughly.
The dining hall's picture gallery holds a cycle of portraits of Bohemian rulers from 1453 to 1705, commissioned by Adam II of Hradec and brought to Častolovice through the 1654 marriage of Anna Lucia Slavata to Adolf Wratislaw of Sternberg. The carved coffered ceiling of the knights' hall has twenty-four panels showing scenes from the Old Testament.
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