Wallenstein Chateau / Valdštejnský zámek - Jicín (East Bohemia) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Vast complex of the Early-Baroque Chateau Jicín (Zámek Jicín; also called Wallenstein Chateau/Valdštejnský zámek), originally a Renaissance residence built in 1608-1616 and later extended in Baroque style, is an important landmark of the town centre. The unfinished ducal residence of Albrecht of Wallenstein and its complex building development is a proof of the level of architecture in the 17th-19th century and interventions preservationists during the 20th century.

Chateau Jicín is the largest building on the town's main public space - Wallenstein Square (Valdštejnské námestí). Three-storey complex with almost square ground plan (70 × 70 m) has three courtyards. It is located in the corner of the square, has 12 arcaded pillars and the main (north) facade is finished with the original corner oriel windows. Chateau currently houses the Jicín Regional Museum, Tourist information centre, a gallery and an elementary art school.

The chateau was not always so vast - originally on this site was an one-storey late Gothic manor house from the end 15th century with one wing, which belonged to the noble family Trcka of Lípa. During the ownership of very rich Bohemian aristocratic family Smirický of Smirice, chateau was rebuilt in the Renaissance style (1607-1608). During Smirický reign, trade and crafts developed, but part of the chateau flew into the air after an explosion of gunpowder on February 1, 1620. Tragically, the disputes over inheritance between Eliška Katerina and Markéta Salomena Smirický culminated.

After the Battle of White Mountain (1620), the property was not confiscated, because it was claimed by duke and Imperial generalissimus Albrecht Václav Eusebius of Wallenstein, the most prominent personality of that time, who changed the character and size of the Chateau to its current form. It was rebuilt in the early-Baroque style according to the project of the architect and builder Andrea Spezza in the 1620-1630s. Stables, a riding school, a ballroom and an armory were built in the chateau garden.

The last small modifications were done by one of the next ownners, Trauttmansdorffs, in the Classicist style (beginning of the 19th century). In the front wing of the chateau you will find the Jury Hall with portraits of the Šlik family and the so-called hall of the anti-Napoleonic coalition. It is important mainly because the representatives of Austria, Russia and Germany met there and concluded the "Holy Alliance" in 1813. Their goal was to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the chateau was housed for some time by Emperor Francis I, who conducted a number of negotiations here.

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