Zámek Libějovice, Renaissance fortified house in Libějovice, Czech Republic.
Starý zámek Libějovice is a Renaissance chateau formed by rebuilding a 14th-century Gothic fortress. Four one- and two-storey wings enclose a trapezoidal courtyard entered through a Gothic gate with a pointed portal and a recess for a drawbridge in the north wing. Renaissance arched gables crown the north facade and the corner oriel, and Gothic and Renaissance barrel vaults survive in the passage and other rooms.
A Gothic fortress founded by Pešek Malovec around the mid-14th century preceded the castle. Vilém of Rožmberk had the old fortress rebuilt into a Renaissance château in the second half of the 16th century. In 1623 the estate passed to Count Karel Bonaventura Buquoy, and Karel Kajetán Buquoy had the castle repaired in 1715–1718. After a new château was built west of the village, the old seat housed only offices and officials' flats; a school occupied one ground-floor room from 1800 to 1861.
The Malovcové family took the German surname z Liebenberka on their seals, and their descendants were called Malovcové z Libějovic. From 1800 to 1861 one ground-floor room served as the village school. In the 19th century the castle was occasionally visited by writers Julius Zeyer, František Herites and Otokar Mokrý.
The four wings enclose a trapezoidal courtyard entered through a Gothic gate in the north wing, whose pointed portal retains a recess for a drawbridge. Arcades on square columns line the courtyard's east side, and a Renaissance portal survives on the north wing's first floor. The building was repaired in 2017.
The north wing keeps a Gothic gate with a pointed portal and a recess for a drawbridge, and the courtyard arcades rest on square pillars. Inside, Gothic and Renaissance barrel vaults survive in the passage and other rooms. The castle has been protected as a cultural monument and lies within the Libějovicko–Lomecko landscape heritage zone.
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