Zámek Běhařov Castle

Běhařov is an interesting example of the transformation of medieval fortress into Baroque castle. It lies in a small village of the same name in the district Klatovy and is one of the protected cultural monuments of the Czech Republic. The building area retains its characteristics over the centuries and remains a symbol of the continuity of the Czech cultural heritage.

The fountains are reminiscent of a cross-country fort since the 14th century when the village was divided into three properties belonging to various owners - Bushka, Livik and Sezem of Běhařova. One of these flags, Sezema, married his relative Dorota and had to travel to Rome in person to demand a church dispensation. The latest report on the family of cross-country flags dates back to 1385. From this moment on, rights and ownership dissolve in the silence of centuries, until they appear brighter again in the sixteenth century.

Over the next generations, the estate changed its owners several times. In 1510 it belonged to Henry of Malovice, in 1527 Johance of Hognest. Her daughter Margaret married Bernard Barchanka from Barshov who bought the estate. In 1543, he sold it to Jan Sadl of Kladrubec. The ownership gradually went to Jáchym Fremut and his sons Brykci and Burjan, later to Dorota with Bořivoj Moon and to other owners. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the estate came into the hands of Count Karl Heřman Koc of Dobrše, who joined him to the Byšice estate. So the fortress stopped being a mansion.

The site was restored a century later. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Hubatiové z Kotnova, who acquired the manor in 1738, took the task of rebuilding the old fortress into a small Baroque castle. Older Gothic and Renaissance vaults were preserved in the wall, so the work was mainly limited to external transformation. However, the final appearance was obtained only in the 1920s when the painter Alois Kalvoda dealt with it. He bought the castle in 1918 and opened a summer painting school in it. Between 1923 and 1927 he made substantial modifications which gave the building its current form.

The castle is situated in a mild slope in a park area surrounded by a stone fenced wall with a gate on the north side. The building has a rectangular floor plan and a triple Mansard roof, from which a tower with an onion roof runs out. The ground floor areas are sealed with vaulted vaults, there is a cross vault in the hall. The premises include the house of the concierge, the statue of St. Wenceslas, the wine cellar and the niche with the statue of the Virgin Mary. Part of the park is a swimming pool with broddle and collection of sculptures: bronze statue Song of our mountains by Josef Drahonovský, statue Pasáčka by František Uprka on the porridge and sculpture of the Girl Act by Jan Štursa.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the castle area served as the seat of the Regional Institute of National Health in Klatovy. Sculpture works in the park resemble the cultural wealth of the complex. Zámek Běhařov remains an interesting destination for those who want to become acquainted with Czech Baroque architecture and long history of the transformation of medieval manor.