Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí / Zámek Vranov nad Dyjí (South Moravia) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí, one of the most remarkable buildings of the Central European Baroque, was created by rebuilding of a Romanesque-Gothic castle firstly mentioned in 1100. The current form was imprinted on it after a devastating fire in 1665 by Counts of Althann.

Baroque reconstruction and reshaping of the castle complex began at the end of the 17th century according to the project of the famous court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The impressive Hall of Ancestors was built and decorated, dominating the rocky valley of the river Dyje and artistically enhancing its distinctive charm. Immediately, the castle chapel of the Holy Trinity was built as its ideological counterweight. The reconstruction was then completed by the residential buildings of the Court of Honor in the 18th century. The chateau was then acquired by the Polish aristocratic Mniszek family, which brought to the unprecedented prosperity of the famous Vranov manufactory for the production of earthenware and porcelain. Their relatives, the Stadnicky family, were the owners of Vranov until the beginning of World War II. During the war, Baron Gebhard von der Wense-Mörse bought the chateau as a German imperial confiscation. After the end of the war, the chateau became state property and today it is a National Cultural Monument and one of the most visited chateaux in Moravia.

The predecessor of today's Chateau in Vranov was a Romanesque castle founded on a steep promontory above the river Dyje in the 11th century, as part of the Dyje defense system. Originally it was the Royal Guard Castle, since the 14th century various aristocratic families took turns in its possession. The castle was acquired by the Althanns in 1617 and from 1687 they organized the reconstruction of the medieval castle into a magnificent Baroque mansion. The designer of the most artistically valuable parts of the chateau, the chapel and the Hall of Ancestors was the excellent Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The Hall of Ancestors was decorated with monumental frescoes by Johann Michael Rotmayr, the sculpture on the staircase is Lorenzo Mattieli.

The chateau was extensively repaired in the 1970s. Its interiors document (with the exception of the Baroque Hall of Ancestors and the chapel) the culture of Vranov's aristocratic living at the end of the 18th and throughout the 19th century. The halls are complemented by samples from the production of a local ceramic manufactory. The chateau stands in the first, most strictly protected zone of the Podyjí National Park, so it is surrounded by an exceptionally valuable natural environment. Interesting tourist destinations include small historic buildings of the former castle forest park, especially the nearby medieval ruins of Nový Hrádek.

Source: excerpted and translated from Wikipedia and National Heritage Institute portal.