Choltice Castle, Baroque château in Choltice, Pardubice Region, Czech Republic

Choltice Castle is a two-winged Baroque château south of the centre of Choltice, about 10 km southwest of Pardubice. The main building is a single-storey structure: the larger west wing has an arcaded ground-floor corridor facing the courtyard, glazed in the early 20th century, and the chapel of St Romedius sits at the north end of the east wing, set back toward the park. A Tuscan-columned entrance with a balustrade leads into the chapel, and a sala terrena beside it was adapted as a winter garden.

Choltice was first documented in 1285, when Beneš of Choltice witnessed a deed of Václav II; a water fortress then stood here. It survived the 1469 Hungarian raid of Matthias Corvinus but was damaged and rebuilt as a square castle with a tower. In 1623 Kryštof Šimon of Thun-Hohenstein bought the estate, and Romedius Konstantin had the old castle replaced from 1683; lack of money halted work in 1695 after only half the planned building was finished.

The chapel of St. Romedius, patron of builder Romedius Konstantin of Thun-Hohenstein, holds stucco work by Antonio Nuvolone from 1695 and an altarpiece by Johann Michael Rottmayr. Above every second window sit eight chained heretics: Arius, Simon Magus, Mani, Nestorius, Jan Hus, Jerome of Prague, Luther and Calvin. Since 1855 the chapel has served as the parish church.

The castle offers two guided tour circuits: one covering the Chapel of St. Romedius and the castle interiors, the other the Water Sprite and Black Theatre museum. It stands south of Choltice's centre, about 10 km southwest of Pardubice, with the chateau park and the adjoining obora, a nature reserve since 2013, reached from the courtyard.

The chapel's interior holds an unusual set of eight seated heretic figures above every second window, bound at hands and feet: Arius, Simon Magus, Mani, Nestorius, Jan Hus, Jerome of Prague, Luther and Calvin. The stucco work dates from 1695 and is by Antonio Nuvolone.