A simple cutout chateau Hluboka

Hluboká entered history only in 1285, when Vítek, the brother of Záviš of Falkenstein, ruled over the estate. After accusing Záviš of high treason, Vítek refused to hand Hluboká into royal hands, and in 1290 Duke Mikuláš of Opava had Záviš executed in the so-called Penalty Meadow in front of Hluboká. The Hluboká estate was often stopped and recovered only during the reign of Vilém of Pernštejn, who had the dilapidated castle repaired and a several ponds built near Hluboká between 1490 and 1492, including Bezdrev.

 

Hluboká changed owners quite often, and they still rebuilt and completed the castle. The Gothic castle was transformed into a Renaissance chateau, then a modern Baroque fortification system was added. Hluboká underwent another major construction intervention at the beginning of the 18th century, when it was rebuilt from the ground up into a Baroque chateau.

 

However, Hluboká acquired its present appearance during the reign of Jan Adolf II. Schwarzenberg and his wife Eleonora. The couple got acquainted with Tudor and Elizabethan architecture on their travels in England. The princess in particular was fascinated by the Royal Castle of Windsor so much that upon her return, the Viennese architect František Beer was commissioned to rebuild Hluboká according to his model. In 1855, the construction of the castle was basically completed.

 

However, work on Hluboká continued until the beginning of 1871. While the exterior of the chateau is a clear manifestation of the neo-Gothic style, the interior design was extremely eclectic.

 

Special attention was paid to the modification of the surrounding landscape. The princely accounts showed the planting of 11,597 trees and 2,180 shrubs in 1851 alone. The chateau park itself and the adjacent area were divided into equestrian paths and alleys, interspersed with meadows with unique massive solitaires, the selection of which was subject to the coloration of the leaves in the autumn. The Stará, Nová and Poněšická fields were also part of this landscape ensemble.

 

The sensitively composed landscape covered about 200 square kilometers. Among the chateau complexes of the Romantic period, the Hluboká chateau, with its set of buildings and sensitively composed landscape, ranks first in Central Europe.