Lužany Castle, Baroque château in Lužany u Přeštic, Czech Republic
Lužany Castle is a baroque château in Lužany u Přeštic that blends 17th-century architectural forms with later Neo-Renaissance additions. The building sits at approximately 358 meters elevation and displays the layering of different architectural periods on its facade.
A fortress once stood on the site; Petr or Adam Příchovští z Příchovic probably built a one-storey Renaissance castle with a wooden tower in the 1570s, its completion dated 1583 on the keystone above the main entrance. Baroque alterations followed in the early 19th century, and the present form results from Josef Hlávka's Neo-Renaissance rebuilding in 1886–1888.
The castle operates as a venue for artistic gatherings and intellectual meetings under the Hlávka Foundation's stewardship. Visitors experience how the building connects architectural beauty with creative life in the Czech lands.
The castle stands on the left bank of the Úhlava, about 3 km south of Přeštice, surrounded by a park on three sides and a Renaissance utility garden. It is open to the public only exceptionally, by arrangement with the Hlávka Foundation; otherwise it serves scientists, artists and selected university students.
The castle's chapel was consecrated in 1887 with a Mass that Antonín Dvořák composed for the occasion, the D major Mass known as the Lužany Mass; he conducted the premiere, and his wife Anna and Hlávka's wife Zdenka sang the solo parts.
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