Kluky Chateau

Kluky Castle stands in the village of the same name between Kutná Hora and Čáslav. Its predecessor was a Gothic fortified house, the centre of a small noble estate. It was built sometime in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when the village was owned by burghers from Kutná Hora and minor nobility.

The first written mention of the fortified house dates from fifteen thirty-eight. At that time, Jan the Younger from Libodřic sold it together with the village, a demesne farm and other property to Jan Chotouchovsky from Nebovidy. Jan's grandson Jindřich sold Kluky in fifteen eighty-four to Jan the Elder Lukavecký from Lukavec, who resided there until his death in fifteen ninety-nine. The estate then passed through the minor Žofie from Lukavec to Petr Lukavecký. In sixteen twenty-four he sold nearly the entire manor to Jan Rudolf Trčka from Lípa for ten thousand Meissen groschen.

The property was confiscated from the Trčkas for anti-imperial conspiracy, and Emperor Ferdinand the Second sold it in sixteen thirty-six to Ferdinand Kurz from Senftenau. From sixteen thirty-eight, Kluky belonged to Erasmus Lehnar. The fortified house then ceased to serve as a noble residence and fell into disrepair, although the widow Eufemie Lehnarová still lived there after her husband's death. In the following decades, the owners changed very frequently.

Kluky became a noble residence again shortly after seventeen hundred, when the Obytečtí from Obytec acquired it. They rebuilt the old fortified house as a Baroque castle, removed the fortifications and laid out a garden on the site of the filled-in moats. The castle belonged to them until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Later the estate was attached to the Žleby manor, and the castle served only for the administration of the farmstead.

In eighteen fifty-six it was acquired by Emilia Boleslavská from Ritterstein, who had it rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style. This is precisely the form that has been preserved to this day. From nineteen-oh-five the castle belonged to the family of Berta Dačická from Heslov, until nineteen forty-five. In the second half of the twentieth century, it housed the local national committee, part of the building served as a dining hall for the state farm, and the rest contained flats.

The two-storey building has approximately a square ground plan and a low hipped roof. In the courtyard façade there is a portal and above it a balcony supported by pillars. Inside, in several rooms, barrel-vaulted ceilings and rich stucco decoration have been preserved. The masonry of the Gothic fortified house remained in part of the perimeter wall up to the height of the first floor. Around the castle, traces of the moat are still visible except on the western side. The entire complex is a cultural monument, that is the castle, the remains of the defensive wall and the adjoining park.