Nové Město nad Metují Chateau

The castle in Novém Městě nad Metují began as a fortress. In the year fifteen hundred and one, it was built by Jan Černčický z Kácova. When the city was founded, the fortress became part of its fortifications, but a distinctive moat separates it from the city.

In the sixteenth century, the city burned down. The Pernštejn family, and after them the Stubenberg family, then rebuilt the fortress into a Renaissance castle. From the year sixteen thirty-four, it belonged to the Leslie family. Walter Leslie had it rebuilt in the Baroque style between the years sixteen fifty-five and sixteen sixty-one according to plans by Carlo Lurago.

A major transformation came in the year nineteen hundred and eight, when the castle was acquired by industrialists Josef and Cyril Bartoň z Dobenína. Between the years nineteen hundred and nine and nineteen hundred and thirteen, architect Dušan Jurkovič adapted it for them. In the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, interiors in the style of art deco and functionalism were created under the supervision of Pavel Janák. Inside, Baroque stucco decoration meets modern art. Artists such as František Kysela and Max Švabinský contributed to it. The castle is also decorated with works by sculptors Josef Václav Myslbek, Jan Štursa, Ladislav Šaloun and František Bílek.

In the year nineteen hundred and forty-eight, the castle was confiscated from the Bartoň family. In restitution, the family acquired it back in the year nineteen hundred and ninety-two. Since the year two thousand and eight, it has been a national cultural monument.

The building forms a quadrilateral around an irregular courtyard. In the northern corner stands a Renaissance round tower called Máselnice. It got its name from the fact that it resembles a device for making butter. The façade and courtyard are decorated with Renaissance painting in shades of grey, so-called grisaille. They uncovered it during Jurkovič's renovation. The main entrance from the town square leads across a bridge over the moat and through a stone Baroque portal. In front of the castle and in the garden stand twenty-three dwarf statues from the workshop of Matyáš Bernard Braun from around the year seventeen hundred and thirteen. They were brought here from Benátky nad Jizerou in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-nine.

Jurkovič also designed a terraced garden in the Italian style. Its two parts are separated by a public path and connected by a wooden covered bridge from the year nineteen hundred and ten. Originally it served only the castle owner. When designing it, Jurkovič was inspired by folk buildings from the Slovak Čičmany. The bridge is divided into two parts by a distinctive three-story tower.

North of the castle stood a brewery building. In the year eighteen hundred and eighteen, František Smetana, the father of Bedřich Smetana, rented it. Only after that did he move to Litomyšl, where Bedřich was born. However, the composer returned here to visit his relatives. He fell in love with his cousin Luisa and wrote Luisa's polka for her. A monument here commemorates him.