Vlksice Fortress, A fortified manor and cultural monument of the Czech Republic in the village of Vlksice.
Vlksice Fortress is a one-storey, unbasemented building with a rectangular plan and a hipped gable roof, standing on raised sloping ground at the south-eastern edge of the village green in Vlksice. Its façade is covered with psaníčkové sgrafito, with plaster corner bossage and a cavetto cornice. A granite portal with a pointed arch leads into the southern cross wing, and a Gothic stone portal with jambs opens into the third ground-floor cross wing. The interior retains vaulted ground-floor rooms, vaulted spaces in the northern part of the upper floor, and a black kitchen.
A fortified residence existed at Vlksice probably in the 13th century, though outside the present building. The surviving Renaissance fortress was built in the mid-16th century under the Tetour of Tetov family; Jan Tetour sold it with the farm and village of Těmín to Těmín of Těmice in 1570. Confiscated after the Battle of White Mountain, it passed to Pavel Michna of Vacínov in 1621 and was bought by Strahov Abbey in 1680, after which it served as a granary.
The fortress lost its residential role in 1680, when it was sold to the abbot of Strahov Monastery and began to be used as a granary. After World War II it served a collective farm as a warehouse. Since 1995 it has been a cultural monument, and today its owner Jiří Šámalík hosts theatre performances in its spaces.
Vlksice Fortress stands on the southeastern edge of the village square on raised, sloping ground, with its courtyard and garden protected along with the building. The garden retains a well with a cast-iron hand pump, and a modern gate with a segmental arch opens onto the courtyard from the north. The building is not cellared and has a single upper floor.
The fortress was used as a granary from 1680, when it was sold to Hyacint Hochmann, abbot of Strahov Monastery; the estate was administered from Milevsko. After World War II it passed to a collective farm (JZD), which used it mainly as a warehouse. It now belongs to Jiří Šámalík and theatre performances are held in its spaces.
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