Kostelní Bříza Chateau

Kostelní Bříza near Březová in the Sokolov region is today a castle ruin. Since the eighteenth century it has stood in the area of a farm courtyard and from the east a castle park adjoins it, which is protected as a cultural monument.

The castle had a predecessor. The oldest noble residence was a Gothic fortified tower. From it a fortified tower mound remained northwest of the Church of Saint Peter and Paul. Later a Renaissance fortified tower stood here, whose location we do not know. It is possible it was located precisely in the place of the farm courtyard.

In sixteen thirty Wilhelm Winkler of Heimfeld acquired the village. In the fifties of the seventeenth century the feudal obligation to Loket Castle was abolished and perhaps a new Baroque castle was built then. It was completed in sixteen seventy-nine, when the estate belonged to Anna Maria Winklerová. A cast iron plaque, originally placed on the castle building, documented this date. The varying thickness of the masonry, which in places reaches up to one and a half meters, also corresponds to this period.

The owners then changed frequently. George Julius Multz of Valdov got into financial difficulties and after a village fire in sixteen eighty-eight he sold the estate to Julius Erdmann Anton of Grouppau. He founded a hospital of All Saints by the church and in seventeen thirty-two he bequeathed the estate to John Francis of Turby. The Turbys are indeed also considered the founders of the castle. After them the estate was held by the Spiegels, Henneberg-Spiegels and Auerspergs.

After nineteen seventeen the castle was acquired by Victor Brand-Kopal. The land reform after nineteen twenty-one affected it only partially and the castle remained his. He managed his property from here until nineteen forty-five. In February nineteen forty-six national administration was imposed on the property, the castle was confiscated from him and Victor had to go to Austria. He died in Litschau in nineteen fifty-nine.

In the second half of the twentieth century the complex was used by State Farms Sokolov and Agrokombinát Sokolov. They neglected maintenance and in nineteen eighty-five to nineteen eighty-six part of the roof collapsed. Repairs did not come and so only the perimeter masonry and some internal partitions of the castle survived.

After two thousand a Dagestani businessman Lukman Lukmanov bought the ruin along with the farm buildings. At his request the complex was struck from the list of cultural monuments in February two thousand seven, with the exception of the park. The new owner began to repair the farm building of the estate, which he wanted to use as his residence.