Verušičky Chateau

Verušičky is a chateau in the core of the same-name village in the district of Karlovy Vary. Their present form comes from a neo-gothic reconstruction from the nineteenth century. Since 1964, the building has been protected as a cultural monument.

The roots of Verusicek dates back to the 1950s when Volf ze Štampachu acquired them and established a new fortress estate. This was first documented in 1556. After Volfe died in 1557, his daughter Anna inherited the estate. First, however, she had to sue her uncle Kryštof of Štampach for the right to property. Anna later married Sezim Miřkovsky from Stropčice. The husbands sold the estate together in 1601 to Jachy Ondrej Šlik.

Among the other owners were Prokop Dvořecký from Olbramovice, since 1605 Stepan Šlik and Fabian Šebestián Pröllhofer from Perkersdorf, who bought the farm in 1608 and joined it to the Manor Luk, through which Verušičky remained until 1711. Since the 18th century, the owners have been taking turns more and more. In 1711 the estate was bought by Count František Helfried Voračický z Paběnic, but four years later it was acquired by František Ladislav Josef Nesslinger ze Schelchengrabenu. The following was a long chain: Marie Elizabeth Kfelířová from Zakšov (1741), František Xaver Putz from Brandenbach (1758), František Antonín Nostic (1774), Friedrich Nostic and Kaspar Friedrich Josef from Overschie (1798) and later his son Renatus. It was the Nostics who had the old fort rebuilt into a Baroque chateau.

In the early nineteenth century (1810) Charles of Thysebaert won the estate with his son August. Since 1830 it belonged to a small town man Jan Antonín Hladik, after his death his niece Antonia of Neuberg. They followed married Joseph and Vilhelmina Hetzel. Karlovy Vary builder Josef Waldert bought the chateau on January 24, 1908 for 180 760 gold pieces and lived here with his family. During World War I, namely April 4, 1918, Waldert donated the chateau to his son Joseph and his wife Martha (born Deimling). The son sold it during World War II, April 11, 1942, to Meldior Dresser. Dresser was seized approximately three years later. In the second half of the twentieth century, the chateau was taken over by the state farm. The low maintenance resulted in a gradual devastation of the building, which culminated in the partial collapse of the northern wing port.

The construction history of Verusicek begins with a single rectangular fortress with dimensions of 27 × 18 meters with buildings of up to 1.5 metres thick. On the ground floor there was a corridor, kitchen and sides of another room. According to the old descriptions, the rooms had arches, but they were removed during the Baroque reconstruction. At that time, a storey east wing with a new staircase was formed, a risalite was built on the north front and in the northwest of the Nарohi, the ground floor room was won by a vaulted vault with triangular sections. A new entrance with a two-arm staircase was set up on the south side. The nineteenth century brought a neo-gothic reconstruction: the remaining vaults were destroyed, the stairwell in front of the south front was replaced by a balcony and two northern wings were decorated with eight-sided turrets.

The chateau stands in the middle of the village, but is not accessible to the public. There are no tourist routes through the village or its nearby surroundings, so Verušičky retains the character of a rather hidden object particularly interesting for architecturally focused visitors and lovers of local history.