Starý zámek Jevišovice Chateau

The Old Castle in Jevišovicích on the Znojem region stands on a rocky promontory in a meander of the Jevišovka river. Access to it leads by only one path from the small town. When viewed from the north and northwest, it forms a striking landmark of the landscape. Since 1973, it has been managed by the Moravian Regional Museum in Brno, which has exhibitions and storage facilities here.

Originally it was a castle. It was built by the Lords of Kunštát in the first third of the fifteenth century after their older castle on the opposite side of the valley was demolished. This place is called Starý hrad and there was already a settlement here in the Eneolithic period. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the building acquired its present appearance. The Gothic core was supplemented by Renaissance and early Baroque alterations. These ended in the seventeenth century under Jan Ludvík Raduit de Souches. He was the most famous owner of the castle, the defender of Brno against the Swedes in 1645 and later also a defender of the monarchy against the Turks. His son Karel Ludvík fell in 1691 at the Battle of Slankamen in Serbia.

After the Lords of Kunštát, the castle belonged to the princes of Münsterberg-Oels and for three years to Emperor Ferdinand the Third. From 1649 it was held by the Counts of Souches and after them by the related Ugartes. Later owners were Robert Biedermann of Turony, the Ofenheims and finally Count Eduard Larisch-Mönnich. In 1945 the large estate was confiscated under the Beneš Decrees.

The castle has a closed four-wing layout. In the south façade stands a prismatic tower, on the north side a single-nave chapel of Saint Louis. The façade facing the small town is decorated with ashlar sgraffito and one window has an original Renaissance grille. An original castle bridge arches over the moat and towards the small town there is a preserved closed forecourt with a courtyard. Until the nineteenth century the castle had three towers. Two smaller ones were demolished and only the main tower remained with the date 1564. Together with the tower of the Church of Saint Joseph, it defines the panorama of the small town.

During the last major renovation, from 1995 to 2011, the castle received new roofs. The former viewing terrace was covered by a massive mansard roof. It replaced a low shingled roof that was destroyed by fire in 1905.

The most valuable space is the Chapel of Saint Louis the King with its original furnishings. It is the only larger sanctuary of this saint in the Czech Republic. Much of the Jevišovicích furnishings is now elsewhere, mainly in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou and Náměšť nad Oslavou. A seventeenth century tapestry with a scene of David and Abigail was taken to Náměšť.

In the town there still stands the Nový zámek, which today houses a home for the elderly. Both castles belonged to one estate and always had the same owners.