Nelahozeves Castle

Nelahozeves Castle

Nelahozeves Castle is one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Bohemia.

It is located in the village of the same name about 35 km north of Prague on the left bank of the Vltava River.

In 1993 it was returned to the Lobkowicz family as part of restitution proceedings. Today it houses a museum with an important part of the family collections. The permanent exhibition includes, among others, rare paintings by Jan Brueghel Sr., Peter Paul Rubens and Paolo Veronese.

The historic halls, courtyards and gardens are used year-round for private and corporate events, as well as annual festivals.

The Skála Bistro

The Skála Bistro and playground are located in a pleasant environment in the castle grounds. On hot summer days, delicious ice cream scoops are guaranteed to refresh you. The fast food offer includes chateau fries or hot dogs, with which we recommend draught fruit lemonade or draught beer.

Historical origins

Nelahozeves Castle was built by the nobleman Florian Griesbeck of Griesbach (1504-1588), who was the personal secretary and close advisor of Emperor Ferdinand I. The representative noble residence of the Northern Italian castle type, which took more than 60 years to build, is associated with the name of the royal architect Boniface Wohlmut. It was originally intended to be a two-storey building with four wings connected by trapezoidal bastions at the corners. When Florian died in 1588, his son Blažej inherited the chateau and the construction of the chateau could continue until 1614. In 1623, the family got into financial difficulties and Florian's granddaughter Veronika was forced to sell the indebted estate to Polyxena of Lobkowicz (1566-1642).

During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) the castle was plundered several times. After the war, Polyxena's son Václav Eusebius, the 2nd Prince of Lobkowicz (1609-1677), had the castle extensively reconstructed and began to use it for the administration of his vast estate. Although it is a beautiful building with all the advantages of a noble residence, Nelahozeves did not serve as the main family residence. This was the castle in Roudnice nad Labem and the Lobkowicz Palace in Vienna.

Although the castle was returned to its owners after the war, it was soon confiscated a second time, this time by the communists who took over the government of Czechoslovakia in 1948. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and the subsequent adoption of three restitution laws, the castle was returned to the family in 1993. Four years later, in the presence of President Václav Havel, the Lobkowicz family opened the collections and the chateau to the public.