Choceň Chateau

The chateau Choceň is situated in the centre of the city on the right bank of the river Silvé Orlice in the district of Ústí nad Orlicí Pardubice region. His existence is closely linked to the creation of the Chocín estate in 1555, when Jaroslav of Pernštejn sold the property to Zikmund of Šelmberk and to Kosti. The official record entry was only followed in 1559.

Zikmund built his first chateau on the left bank of the river. Since the construction lasted a long time, its owner lived in the sailing yard in Vrchovina. The original building had one wing and was completed in 1562. Since 1574 Zikmund began extensive expansion which was to convert the chateau to a quadruple object, however the work was not over when the estate in 1581 bequeathed Wroclaw from Pernštejn. Neither he nor his sons John and Maximilian, whose estate belonged to him in 1587, continued the construction because of debts. Construction work continued only under the new owner Hertvik Zejdice of Šenfeld, who owned the estate from 1587 to 1603. The four-wing form formed gradually, the construction was completely completed between 1587 and 1599. In 1610 the chateau is characterized as a "comfortable and cheerful building from the stone well built.".

Hertvik's son Rudolf was involved in a state uprising against the Habsburgs, and his lands were therefore confiscated. In 1622 Rudolf died in Chocni Chateau, supposedly poisoned. In 1623 Albrecht z Valdštejna bought the chateau from the Royal Chamber, but immediately transferred it to Vincent Muschinger from Gumpendorf. After 1628, Ferdinand Zikmund owned the Senftenau Course, the husband of Muschinger's daughter. In 1646 he was affected by the Swedish War. In 1683 Jan Bedřich of Trauttmansdorff bought the chateau, his son František Antonín Adam sold it in 1709 to Václav Norbert Octavian Kinski. Род Kinski remained owner until the end of World War II.

During the 18th century, the chateau went through Baroque modifications, first in 1710-1720 for Václav Norbert Oktavián Kinský, later in the middle of the century there were further modifications of the interior. In 1829 he was struck by a devastating fire, after which he was completely rebuilt in the spirit of neoclassicism and gained today's form. In 1849-1850 a pseudogotic chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was added to the chateau with an altar of Carrarian white marble.

During World War II, the Nazi organization Hitler Youth was based here, later interned by French prisoners, and at the end of the war served as a hostel for the staff of the Hermann Goering-Werke Group. In 1945, the chateau was confiscated and nationalized on the basis of the Beneš Decrees. At present, there is a basic art school in the south wing, in the north wing of the Orlická Museum. The complex included a brewery and an economic building currently operated by the forests of the Czech Republic. Chateau horticulture, founded by the Kinski family, has been a private enterprise since 1992.