Jezeří Castle, Baroque château in Horní Jiřetín, Czech Republic

Jezeří Castle stands on the steep southern flank of the Ore Mountains above Horní Jiřetín, directly over the ČSA open-pit coal mine. Its Baroque form, built 1690–1696 to plans by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi, has an H-shaped ground plan of four wings around two courtyards open to the landscape, with two towers at the western ends and the tallest tower above the entrance portal, flanked by two atlantes carved by Johann Adam Dietz.

The fortress was originally built in the 14th century with Gothic features, later underwent Renaissance modifications, and eventually became a Baroque residence under the Lobkowicz family. These transformations trace the changing architectural preferences across several centuries of ownership.

The castle theatre opened in 1802, alongside a hunting orchestra and the Eisenberg choir; concerts in the park drew guests from far around. Goethe visited, and Beethoven was a close friend of Prince Josef František Maxmilián of Lobkowicz. The often-repeated claim of an Eroica premiere here is inaccurate: the documented private premiere took place in Vienna in June 1804.

Guided tours of the interiors and the castle park run in the summer half of the year; the interiors were rebuilt for army use after 1950, so expect plain rooms rather than furnished salons. The castle stands on the gneiss slope of the Ore Mountains directly above the edge of the ČSA open-cast mine, less than 500 metres from it.

In 1987 the castle was slated for demolition because of the expanding ČSA open-cast coal mine, even though it stands on gneiss outside the coal seam. From 1988 to 1991 a citizens' initiative carried out the first roof repairs, and in 1991 the property was returned to the Lobkowicz family, who handed it back to the state in 1996.