Slavín - Chateau

On the edge of a terraced hillside, jutting out from the valley of the Liběchovka River in the village of Tupadly in the Mělník region, lies the romantic Slavín chateau complex. Originally (perhaps as early as the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries), the now-defunct village of Kostelec stood here, along with a fortress of the same name. Together, they became the property of the lords of the Liběchov estate, but in the turmoil and aftermath of the Thirty Years' War, they fell into disrepair and only the adjacent farmyard remained functional. In the first half of the 19th century, Liběchov became the property of the patriotic Antonín Veith, who decided to demolish the farmstead and build a pantheon celebrating Czech national mythology and history on the site of the former Kostelec fortress, modelled on the Valhalla in Regensburg. Based on a design by Bavarian painter Wilhelm Gail, a romantic building inspired by the Moorish style and complemented by a high tower with battlements was built here between 1836 and 1841. The centrepiece of the complex was a hall for 21 bronze statues of figures from Czech history, of which only eight were actually made. After Veith's death, completion was irrevocably postponed, and in 1873 the complex became the seat of the convent of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, while the tower was opened to the public as a lookout point. After World War II, the building was used for educational purposes by the national enterprise Avia Čakovice, and in later years it housed the Central Research Institute of Plant Production in Prague-Ruzyně, which operated a pedology department there.