Smečno Castle, Renaissance castle in Smečno, Czech Republic

Smečno Castle is a four-winged, single-storey Renaissance château built around an irregular rectangular courtyard and enclosed by a moat, originally a water moat. A polygonal tower with external buttresses projects from the east wing, and the massive square entrance tower of the north wing has a gallery and Renaissance arcades beneath its roof. The Gothic Chapel of Saint Anne with a net vault survives in the east wing.

The first written mention of the fortress on the site dates from 1252, when it belonged to Boleslav of Smečno. The Martinic family bought it in 1416–1418 and held it for five hundred years; before 1460 Bořita II had the old fortress rebuilt as a Gothic castle. Around 1586 Jiří Bořita had a new Renaissance château built, keeping only the towers.

The castle's name comes from the village, called Muncifaj until 1510, a corruption of the Latin mons fagi, beech hill. The interiors now serve a home for people with disabilities, so only the park is open to visitors. In the park stand 18th-century statues of Pomona, Flora, Samson and Hercules.

The parkland surrounding the castle is open to visitors year-round and can be explored independently of the building itself. Access to the grounds is best during daylight hours when the surroundings are fully visible.

The castle's south-west corner and the Chapel of Saint Anne preserve masonry from the Gothic fortress and castle that preceded the Renaissance rebuilding. The chapel, with its net vault and the coats of arms of Bořita of Martinic and his wife Anna of Kunvald on the bosses, dates to 1460.