Šternberkové - vstup do zámku Zásmuky / Sternbergs - entrance to Zásmuky Chateau (Central Bohemia)
N 49° 57.268 E 015° 01.735
33U E 502074 N 5533568
The depicted stone coat of arms of an old Czech noble family - Sternbergs (Šternberkové) is located above entrance portal of the Baroque complex of Zásmuky Chateau (Zámek Zásmuky) in Central Bohemia.
Waymark Code: WMQTDW
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/27/2016
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The depicted stone coat of arms of an old Czech noble family - Sternbergs (Šternberkové) is located above entrance portal of the Baroque complex of Zásmuk
The line of counts of Sternberg belongs to the oldest Czech aristocratic families in the country. Its members committed themselves in the Czech political and cultural history. Their alleged grandfather Diviš lived at the beginning of the 12th century.
Early Baroque Zásmuky Chateau (Zámek Zásmuky), originally Gothic-Renaissance castle, is principal historic and architectonic landmark of a small market town Zasmuky. Zásmuky Chateau, firstly mentioned in 1285 as a fortress of squire Sulislav of Zasmuky, kitchen master to Queen Guta, the wife of King Vaclav II. The Lords of Zásmuky owned the fortress until 1533, when it was bought by Adam of Rícany, who rebuilt the Gothic castle into a Renaissance chateau with open arcades into the courtyard. Zásmuky demesne was then sold to Jan Vchynský of Vchynice, the Royal Burgrave, in 1583.
After the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which devastated whole Kingdom of Bohemia, was damaged chateau bought by an unscrupulous war profiteer, Vaclav Michna of Vacínov, who, within a year (in 1637) exchanged it with Jan Rudolph of Sternberg. His son, Adolph Vratislav of Sternberg (1630-1703), highest Burgrave of the Czech Kingdom, rebuilt Zásmuky in the spirit of the early Baroque by adding a tower, replacing the fortification with a park. Also a large complex of administrative and farming buildings with huge entrance tower, decorated with Sternbergs' coat of arms, was constructed.