Salhausenovský dům Castle

Salhausenovský dům is a former court of the House of Salhausen, located in České Kamenice in the district of Děčín. Since 1966, it has been protected as a cultural monument. The building represents an interesting example of the long development of one building from the noble residence to the public hospital to today's multi-functional facility.

The exact circumstances of the house were no longer preserved in written sources. The construction was probably created at the end of the first quarter of the sixteenth century, with archaeological and historical findings dating back to its origin between 1516 and 1535. An interesting lead in history was left in 1522, when Hanushi and Bedřech of Salhausen split up the children's estate. Česká Kamenice belonged to Bedřich, and given the chronology, it is assumed that he was the builder of the Salhausen house. The owner of the estate was Prokop z Vartenberka before 1535, who had the Czech stone castle built. In 1614 his descendants sold the estate to the Kinski family, which meant a significant break in the fate of the region.

Around that time or sometime before, the house was changed. The city acquired it and set up a hospital which was funded by the Hanusha Foundation of Salhausen, founded in 1521. This function lasted until 1907, when the hospital closed down in the building. After 1911, a museum with an archive was established in the house, which lived here until 1959. Since then, the house has been primarily used as an administrative space - it has the headquarters of the Czechoslovakian city police, the volunteer fire department and, since around 2023, the employment office contact centre.

The building form of the house speaks of its long history. The original late Gothic elements are combined with baroque modifications that were made in the eighteenth century. The floor plan is rectangular with a characteristic tower, which stands before the facade in the southwest corner. Smooth facades are decorated in corners with armour. The ground floor space is organized by an entrance corridor, which divides it into two parts: on one side there are two vaults of rooms, on the other side four chambers. Over the years, some rooms on the ground floor and on the first floor were modified by younger bulkheads, reflecting the changing needs of individual users.

Salhausenovský dům is therefore a valuable witness to the centuries of Czech historical and architectural tradition, where gothic and barok intersect, and where social and cultural changes are reflected from the Middle Ages to the present. / p >