Komorní Hrádek is a village located within the municipality of Chocerady in the

Benešov District Benešov District ( cs, okres Benešov) is a district ('' okres'') within Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Benešov. Complete list of municipalities Benešov – Bernartice – Bílkovice – Blažejovic ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It is on the left bank of the river Sázava. The village is home to a medieval castle that was rebuilt into a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

chateau. The first written mention of the village dates back to 1401.

Landmarks

Čejchanov

is a ruined castle built before 1356. The castle was besieged and destroyed in 1404 by

Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk or of Hasenburg ( cs, Zbyněk Zajíc z Hazmburka; c. 1376 – 28 September 1411) was a Czech nobleman, and an important representative of the Roman Catholic Church in the Crown of Bohemia. He was the 5th Archbishop of P ...

. It has been a protected cultural monument since 1965.

Chateau Komorní Hrádek

History

Komorní Hrádek is home to the . Originally, a castle called Veselé was founded by

Racek Kobyla of Dvorce {{Infobox noble, type , name = Racek Kobyla of Dvorce , title = Royal Hetman of Wenceslaus IVBurgrave of Vyšehrad , image = , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more ...

, the burgrave of Vyšehrad. This was permitted by King

Wenceslas IV Wenceslaus IV (also ''Wenceslas''; cs, Václav; german: Wenzel, nicknamed "the Idle"; 26 February 136116 August 1419), also known as Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, was King of Bohemia from 1378 until his death and King of Germany from 1376 until he w ...

on 28 August 1412,''Hrady, zámky a tvrze v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku''. Příprava vydání Tomáš Šimek. Svazek VI. Východní Čechy. Praha: Nakladatelství Svoboda, 1985. 726 s. Kapitola Komorní Hrádek – zámek, s. 202–203. however, the castle was most likely completed before Wenceslas authorized it. The castle was likely the replacement for the older Čejchanov (see above), only 200 meters to the west. The reason for Veselé replacing Čejchanov was likely Čejchanov's unsuitable position that rendered the castle easily endangered by

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

. After the death of Racek Kobyla in 1416, his widow ceded the castle to the Hussite nobleman in 1422. At the beginning of the 16th century acquired the castle from the

Kostka family 200px, Dąbrowa Coat of Arms The Kostka (Kostkowie) was a Polish noble family (szlachta) originated from Kashubia. Members * Anna Kostka * Jan Kostka * Katarzyna Kostka Katarzyna Kostka (1576–1648) was a Polish–Lithuanian noblewoman ...

. In 1516 he sold the castle to Ludvík Zajímač of Kunštát. However, Zajímač's debts prevented him from completing the payment for the castle. So, in 1525 Albrecht's sons gave the estate to Jaroslav of Selmberk, and the castle's name was changed to Komorní Hrádek. Jaroslav reconstructed the castle into a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

chateau. In 1554 the castle was bought by the Waldstein family. Count František Josef of Valdštejn sold the castle to Count Jan Adolf of Metsch in 1733.

Buildings

The castle had a fake entrance wing and several

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

s. The castle had a small square

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

. A

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

protected the entire castle. The castle contains the remains of two ruined buildings. The fort was strengthened by a massive

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

wall with a preserved

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

cell. A battery tower probably stood in the southeast corner. The chateau has the remains of a two-

storey A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

older building from the second half of the 16th century. There is a

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

chapel of the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

Design

The castle core had a four-circle floor plan and on the south and west side. The castle is centered around a diamond courtyard. The walls have

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

rustication.

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

from the second decade of the 15th century has been preserved on the southern and western sides. The masonry from the same period has been partially preserved in the northern wing, while the appearance of the eastern side was completely changed during the

reconstruction. Three additional wings were added during the 17th century.

Loreto Chapel

In 1765, the Countess Marie Karolína of Khevenhüller had a built on the edge of the castle park near Vráž. She arranged for the

Holy Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Christ ...

to be offered in the chapel. Marie also ordered for a pilgrimage to the Our Lady of Sorrows to be celebrated in the chapel every third Sunday after

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. On 10 August 1766 the chapel was consecrated by the abbot of the Sázava monastery, Leander Kramář. During the

Josephine reforms Josephinism was the collective domestic policies of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1765–1790). During the ten years in which Joseph was the sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy (1780–1790), he attempted to legislate a series of drastic reforms ...

in 1787, the chapel was abolished and a wooden Marian statue was transferred to the church in Vranov on 25 April. The abolished chapel was then used as a warehouse. In 1870, Princess Antonie Khevenhüllern-Metsch died, planning to restore the chapel as a place of pilgrimage. Her relatives had the original chapel demolished and a new chapel was built in its place in 1872, according to a drawing by a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

architect. The princess was then buried in it.Podlaha, Antonín. Posvátná místa království Českého: dějiny a popsání chrámů, kaplí, posvátných soch, klášterů i jiných pomníků katolické víry a nábožnosti v království Českém. Řada první, Arcidiecese Pražská. V Praze: Nákladem dědictví sv. Jana Nepomuckého, 1907–1913. Sv. 1, S. 81. Dostupné online.

References

*''This article was initially translated from the Czech Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Komorní Hrádek Populated places in Benešov District Neighbourhoods in the Czech Republic