Čížová Chateau

The Čížová Chateau is located in a small village northwest of Sand in South Bohemia. It is a cultivated building which still retains its architectural charm and is protected as a cultural monument. Building No. 1 is among the most preserved witnesses of the long past of this place.

The beginnings of the Chinese date back to 1560, when the Deym family from Srtej purchased the village here and made it the centre of a smaller noble estate. The Renaissance fortress was probably founded by one of the first family members: Jan Deym of Srtej or his eldest son, Nicholas. Over time, the Deyms became owners of a fixed farm. During the 30-year war and the subsequent state uprising (1618-1620), the family showed various loyalty. While one of the members was accused of taking part in the uprising, in 1623, after his transition to Catholic faith, he was acquitted of the trial of post-white mountain confiscation. Around 1629 he had the chateau expanded and rebuilt.

The chateau was held in the Deym family until the first quarter of the eighteenth century. The course of the inheritance was complicated: after the death of 1683, the property was divided between sons, until it finally reached Jan Peter Deym. He played a key role in the new history of the chateau. In 1698 he extended the estate to Oldřichov and initiated the reconstruction of the original Renaissance fortress into the form of a baroque-romantic chateau. However, the high financial burden led him to sell assets in 1715. The Chernins' family from Chudenice was purchased by Chezh, from which it eventually reached Lobkovice.

Under the administration of Lobkovický, Čížová became the center of economic activities. In 1753 Marie Ludmila, daughter of the owner František Antonín Černín, married Prince Augustus Antonín of Lobkovice. Although Mělík was the source of her inheritance, she also paid attention to her South Bohemian estates. In China, she had the church of St. James, initiated the creation of the cemetery chapel of St. Barbara and had the hospital built at the church. In 1770, a school was established from the neighbouring hermit. However, the chateau itself gradually faded at the time because the Lobkovics did not live there and the administration of the estate was concentrated in Drhovla.

It was only in 1872 that the location of the forest administration, which was part of the decentralisation of the lobbyists, brought a new impetus. Since then the chateau has served practical purposes of agriculture and forestry. The Čížová brewery was later built in the adjacent economic building, which still works here today. Thus, the place that had undergone the transformation from the Renaissance fortress through the Baroque residence to the economic centre became an atypical but authentic witness of Czech history.