Velké Hoštice Castle, Neoclassical château in Velké Hoštice, Czech Republic

Velké Hoštice Castle is a two-storey rectangular building with a T-shaped plan, standing in a park 5 km east of Opava. A pillared carriage passage carrying a balcony with an iron grille projects from the seven-axis facade, which is divided by pilasters with composite capitals and filled with rococo decoration and putti figures. A mansard roof holds a low hexagonal turret with a flattened dome and lantern.

The estate changed hands several times before Count Ignác Dominik Chorynský inherited it in 1754 and began constructing a Baroque castle. Following a fire in 1765 that damaged the building during its construction phase, it was restored and completed.

Under Count Ignác Chorynský the castle became a social and cultural centre of Silesia: between 1768 and 1778 it hosted frequent theatre performances, dance redoutes and musical academies performed by its permanent castle orchestra. The Silesian composer Josef Puschmann worked here. Today the building houses a wine shop, a restaurant and a care home, and no guided tours take place.

The castle stands in a park near the village, about 5 km east of Opava. No guided tours are offered, so visitors see the building from outside; inside are a wine shop, a restaurant and a care home. The 1768 tree avenue and the 19th-century landscape park are freely walkable.

The castle's permanent chapel band was active under Count Ignác Chorynský, and the Silesian composer Josef Puschmann worked here. Between 1768 and 1778 the halls hosted frequent theatre performances, dance redoutes and musical academies. The builder was Ostrava master Jakub Paneck, and the frescoes were painted by Prostějov painter František Antonín Sebastini.