Dírná Castle, Baroque château in Dírná, Czech Republic

Dírná Castle is a Baroque building with a mansard roof and a lantern turret, standing on the western bank of Zámecký rybník. Its main two-storey structure has an irregular hexagonal plan, and inside, medieval parts of the original fortress survive, including load-bearing elements and sections cut into the rock. A landscape park with a game enclosure and terraced garden adjoins it.

Dírná Castle stands on the site of a medieval fortress probably built around the mid-14th century, when the village of Dírná is first documented in 1354. After the fortress burned down in 1636, Kryštof Vratislav z Mitrovic had it rebuilt as a Renaissance château. František Adam Vratislav z Mitrovic gave it its Baroque form in 1757–1759. Confiscated in the 1950s and used as a pioneer camp, it was returned in 1990 and renovated in 1994–1995.

The Vratislav family of Mitrovice owned the estate from 1618; Kryštof Vratislav bought it from relatives in 1624 and rebuilt the burnt fortress as a Renaissance château in 1636. Confiscated in the 1950s, it served as a pioneer camp of the ČKD Dukla engineering works, and Maxmilián Josef Wratislav had it renovated in 1994–1995 as a guesthouse.

The castle is not normally open to the public: after the 1994–1995 renovation the buildings were converted into a guesthouse, so there are no regular tours of the interior. The grounds lie above the west bank of the Zámecký rybník, on the south-eastern edge of Dírná, about 9 km east of Soběslav.

Inside the two-storey main building, parts of the medieval fortress that preceded the castle survive, including load-bearing structures and sections cut into the rock. Visitors who only see the Baroque facade usually miss this older core.