Chotěboř - Chateau

The one-storey Baroque Chotěboř chateau is located on the edge of the village of the same name approximately 15 km northeast of Havlíčkův Brod. In 1356 Chotěboř gained the right to build city walls and shortly after 1361 a fortified manor house was built outside the perimeter of the city by an unknown builder. In 1499 Mikuláš the younger Trčka of Lípa and of Lichnice acquired the fortified manor house and Chotěboř remained in the possession of the Trčka of Lípa family until 1634, when their property was confiscated, and Emperor Ferdinand II donated it to Jaroslav Sezim Rašín of Rýzmburk.

The fortified manor house at that time was probably just a small manor, which at the end of the 17th century ceased to suit its owners. In the years 1701–1702 another owner, Vilém Leopold Kinský, therefore decided to build a new, more imposing seat - today‘s chateau – on the site of the dilapidated manor house. The Italianate four-winged one-storey building with an enclosed courtyard was built mostly in the style of the early Baroque.

In 1837 the chateau became the property of the Dobřenský of Dobřenice family and since then the chateau has been inherited only by members of this family. In the years 1865 and 1870 a part of the first floor of the chateau was rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style and in the years 1870–1875 an extensive English landscape garden with rare trees was established. During repairs to the chateau after a fire in 1927 the destroyed hipped roof was replaced by a mansard roof, a triangular gable with the Dobřenský coat of arms was added above the front risalit of the northern facade, as well as a bell tower.

The Dobřenský family lived in the chateau in Chotěboř until 1948, when the chateau was confiscated and its last owners, Jan Maxmilián Dobřenský and his wife Leopoldina née Lobkovicová, emigrated to Canada. Since 1952 The Municipal Museum was based in the chateau and in 1966 it finally took over the administration of the entire building, gradually ensuring necessary repairs and the reconstruction of part of the chateau.

In the restitutions after 1990 the chateau was returned to the Dobřenský (now Dobrzenský) family. They are continuing with the necessary repairs and have agreed, moreover, to allow the museum to remain in the chateau until the end of 2019. Today the Chateau has returned to its original character as a Private Family Home and is no longer open to the public.