Zbiroh Castle, Renaissance château in Zbiroh, Czech Republic

Zbiroh Castle is a château in Bohemia with Renaissance and Gothic elements, situated between two forest regions and housing over 200 rooms throughout its structure. The building displays architectural layers from different periods and currently operates as a hotel open for public tours.

Zbiroh is likely one of the oldest noble castles in Bohemia, though its founding date is uncertain; Chřen of Zbiroh is mentioned in a Plasy monastery charter of 1230, and Tomáš Durdík placed its foundation in the second quarter of the 13th century. Owners included the Rožmberks, King Sigismund and the Kolovrats; Rudolf II had it rebuilt as a Renaissance château, and in 1868 Baron Bethel Heinrich Strousberg bought it and had August Orth remodel it in Neo-Renaissance style.

The castle's name comes from a legend: a noble party lost in the woods woke to find deer antlers strewn around them, and the lord had them collected (sebrat), giving Zbiroh its name. Alfons Mucha rented the glass-roofed hall from 1912 to 1928 and painted the Slav Epic there, posing local Sokol and amateur-theatre members for his figures.

The château opened to the public on 18 June 2005 and now holds a hotel, a pub and a wellness area, with guided tour routes through part of the rooms. Sleeping in the historic famine cell is offered, and wine tastings take place in the cellar beneath the hermitage. The vineyards on the slope are among the highest in Czechia, at 550 m above sea level.

The 163-metre well was dug by miners from Příbram over 70 to 80 years through extremely hard buližník rock, so it twists into a spiral as it descends. During the army's stay a third of it was filled with waste; cleaning took a year and a half and filled 30 trucks, which also yielded seven crates of SS archives and historical weapons.