Old Castle in Kostelec nad Orlicí, Château in Kostelec nad Orlicí, Czech Republic

The Old Castle in Kostelec nad Orlicí is a former manor house with a two-storey main south wing and a single-storey west wing, covered by a mansard roof. The south facade has a stone portal with a semicircular arch and a triangular gable; the north facade ends in a small tower. A paved Kinský coat of arms lies before the entrance.

A fortress at Kostelec is first documented in 1629, when Anna Kateřina Hrzánová sold the Potštejn estate to Kašpar of Gramb; the surviving cellars suggest it was built shortly before 1620. After a fire in 1668 it was rebuilt, and after another fire in 1777 the architect František Kermer gave it its late-Baroque form, which it keeps today. Prince Josef Kinský bought the estate in 1796.

The Kinský family bought the Kostelec estate in 1796; after building the New Castle in the 1830s they moved there, and the Old Castle became the manor house with flats and offices for estate officials. In 1948 the property was confiscated and the building housed the state farm directorate. Since 1997 it is again in Kinský hands and its rooms are rented to service providers.

The castle is located near the town center of Kostelec nad Orlicí and is easily accessible on foot. This central position makes it convenient to explore the building along with other sights in the old town.

The Kinský coat of arms is paved into the sidewalk in front of the south entrance, below a stone portal with a semicircular arch. The family recovered the building in 1997 after it had served as the state farm directorate from 1948. Its spaces are now rented to service providers.