Zámecká brána / Castle gate - Podebrady (Central Bohemia)
N 50° 08.526 E 015° 07.126
33U E 508486 N 5554436
Depicted entrance gate is one of the last preserved Renaissance elements of Royal Castle complex in Podebrady (Zámek Podebrady) which was rebuilt many times during 800 years of its existence.
Waymark Code: WM129CT
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/05/2020
Views: 19
Depicted entrance gate is one of the last preserved Renaissance elements of Royal Castle complex in Podebrady (Zámek Podebrady) which was rebuilt many times during 800 years of its existence.
The Renaissance entrance gate is decorated with three stucco coats of arms from the mid 16th century. On the sides of the two-headed Habsburg imperial eagle are the coats of arms of Kingdom of Bohemia and Kingdom of Hungary. Above the arch of the gate can be found small windows with pulleys, which were used to lift the original drawbridge over the moat.
A wooden fortress originally stood at the site of the present castle. king Ottokar II of Bohemia replaced it by a stone castle, which became the seat of the Lordship of Podebrady. King John of Bohemia pledged the Lordship and the Castle to Hynek of Lichtenburg in 1345. When in 1350, Hynek's daughter Elizabeth (Czech: Eliska z Lichtemburka married Bocek I of Podebrady (died 1373), the castle came into the possession of the Kunštát family. After Emperor Charles IV gave Podebrady to Bocek as a hereditary possession, Bocek called himself Bocek of Podebrady, thereby founding the Podebrady line of the Kunštát family.
According to legend, King George of Podebrady, Bocek's grandson, was born on the castle. After George's death in 1471, the Castle and Lordship of Podebrady where inherited by his son, Henry the Younger of Podebrady, whose heirs had to transfer ownership of both the castle and the lordship to King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary in 1495. Both were pledged several times before the load was repaid by King Ferdinand I. They remained in the possession of the Bohemian Crown until 1839.
The castle was rebuilt several times. Between 1548 and 1580, it was reconstructed to a Renaissance style, after a design by Giovanni and Ulrico Aostalli and Hans Vienna. After the Thirty Years' War, the castle lost most of its importance. Complex was completely reconstructed in a Baroque style under the direction of the architect František Maximilian Kanka in 1723 and 1724. Further, smaller modifications, were made after 1750. Maria Theresa, in her capacity as Queen of Bohemia, stayed at the castle on several occasions. Under her son Joseph II, the castle was the residence of retired Imperial Army officers.
In 1839, the Crown sold the Castle and the Lordship to the Viennese banker Georg Simon Sina (1783-1856). Through marriage, the castle came into the possession of the Counts of Ypsilanti in 1884. [wiki]