Duchcov Château / Zámek Duchcov - Duchcov (North-West Bohemia) - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

The Baroque Duchcov Château (Zámek Duchcov), whose current appearance is the result of a complex architectural development from the Gothic fortress through the Renaissance residence to the temporary monumental complex, is the result of several Baroque reconstructions and Classicist alterations from the 17th to the 19th century.

The château was founded as a fort in the 13th century by the Hrabišic family. Not earlier than 1527, the House of Lobkowicz replaced the fort with a one-wing Renaissance palace (architect Ulrico Aostalli). Marie Polyxena of Thalmberg, the widow of František Josef of Lobkowicz, married secondly Maximillian, Count of Waldstein in 1642. Their son Jan Bedrich, count of Waldstein, later the Archbishop of Prague, was apprised with the French architect and painter Jean Baptiste Mathey, and he brought him to Duchcov for the purpose of the first Baroque rebuilding the residence (done in 1675–1685).

From the summer of 1714, Czech architect František Maxmilián Kanka led the subsenuebt Baroque rebuildings. Kanka also modified the appearance of the main hall, into which Václav Vavrinec Reiner painted a fresco with the theme Henry of Wallenstein brings Premysl Otakar II. in 1254 his twenty-four sons. The adjoining French chateau garden with swimming pools, fountains, richly planted, ornately designed flowerbeds and a number of mythological sculptures from the workshop of Matthias Bernard Braun was designed by Jan Ferdinand Schor.

The château was incorporated in the Waldstein's family fideicommissum and passed on through inheritance to Ernst Joseph count Waldstein and to his descendants until it was nationalised in 1945. Mathey designed a huge Baroque complex, including a large park and a hospital. The decoration of the building was provided by the best Baroque artists in Bohemia, like the sculptors Matyáš Bernard Braun, Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff, and painter Václav Vavrinec Reiner. Between 1785 and 1798, famous Italian adventurer and writer Giacomo Casanova, the so-called "Secretary of the 18th century", spent the last thirteen years of his amazing life in Duchcov.

The château facade was partially reshaped in the Classicist style and the garden in the romantic style in 1812. The Waldstein family left the place in 1921. At present, the château is state-owned and open to visitors. The garden grounds serve as a public park.

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