Stráž nad Nežárkou Castle, Baroque château in Stráž nad Nežárkou, Czech Republic.
Stráž nad Nežárkou Castle is a three-winged château with a U-shaped plan, standing on a promontory above the Nežárka River on the eastern edge of the town. The courtyard is entered through a portal beneath the tower, and a second, walled-up portal faces the tower's other side. The tower has a chamfered edge (břit) and was probably built in the 15th century.
The castle was founded in the second half of the 13th century by the lords of Stráž, a branch of the Vítkovci; the first written mention dates from 1284, when Sezema of Hradec resided there. It burned down in 1570 and was later rebuilt in late Renaissance style. A Baroque reconstruction followed after 1715 under the Černín family, and from 1914 to 1930 the opera singer Ema Destinnová owned it.
The castle's name comes from the lords of Stráž, who founded the original castle in the second half of the 13th century. The first written mention dates from 1284, when Sezema of Hradec resided there. The square tower of the outer ward, later converted into a bell tower beside the primary school building, survives from the fortified complex.
The castle stands on a promontory above the Nežárka River at the eastern edge of Stráž nad Nežárkou. Visitors enter the U-shaped courtyard through a portal beneath the tower; a second, walled-up portal faces the tower's other side. The square tower of the former outer bailey, now a bell tower, stands by the primary school building.
The square tower by the primary school is the surviving remnant of the castle's outer ward; it was later converted into a bell tower. Tomáš Durdík assumed a late Gothic origin, but the heritage catalogue dates it to around 1600. The core's own tower, with its wedge-shaped buttress, was long taken for an early Gothic bergfrit, yet its upper floors point to the 15th century.
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