Kačina is a significant

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 duri ...

castle in

Svatý Mikuláš Svatý Mikuláš is a municipality and village in Kutná Hora District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,000 inhabitants. It is known for the Kačina Castle. Administrative division Svatý Mikuláš consists of f ...

in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

of the

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

. In 1945, it was designated a national property.

History

Kačina was built from 1806 to 1824 in place of the defunct medieval village of Kačín as a prestige mansion of the supreme burgrave of the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

and president of the governorate, Jan Rudolf Chotek (1748–1824). The architectural scheme was drawn up by

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

royal architect Christian Franz Schuricht (1753–1832) from

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. In the last few years of construction, Johann Philipp Jöndl (1782–1870) also controlled the construction. He also eminently influenced the final appearance of the castle. Functionally, the castle is divided into three parts. The main (central) building with exquisite halls was the residence of the family, with two-quarter circle adjacent lower wings with pillared colonnades where the guest rooms were situated. To those wings were connected other pavilions. On the right one is situated the mansion's chapel and theatre, which were finished in the first half of the 19th century. On the left one, there is an extensive library dating from the 16th to 19th century. The castle is surrounded by a vast park that was founded already in 1789, according to the plan of famous Viennese botanist

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...

(1727–1817). It was completed thirteen years earlier than the castle itself.

External links

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Website of Czech castles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kacina Kutná Hora District Castles in the Czech Republic Castles in the Central Bohemian Region Museums in the Central Bohemian Region Historic house museums in the Czech Republic National cultural monuments of the Czech Republic Palace theatres