zámek Brodec Chateau

Castle Brodec stands in the western part of the village of the same name in the Louny region, within the yard of a farm complex. Its origins date back to the middle of the sixteenth century. However, its present appearance is the result of a Baroque reconstruction in the second half of the seventeenth century and later modifications.

The first noble residence in Brodec was a fortified house, which was probably built around fifteen forty-nine by Jiřík Jan Kuneš z Lukovec. In fifteen eighty, Adam Hruška z Března and na Cítolibech purchased the estate, but he died just a year later. His sons then managed the estate together for a long time and divided it between themselves only in the years fifteen ninety-six to fifteen ninety-seven. Brodec fell to the eldest of them, Jan Hruška, who sold it to Anežka, the wife of Kryštof mladší Šlik. In sixteen oh four, Volf Bernart Fictum z Egerberka acquired the village from her. Four years later, he sold it to Jáchym Jindřích Štensdorf ze Štensdorfu, whose lands were confiscated for participation in the Estates Revolt.

In sixteen twenty-four, Jan Reinhard Hildebrandt purchased the estate and his son František Emanuel inherited it after him. The fortified house was devastated by the Thirty Years War in the meantime. In sixteen fifty-one, it was purchased by the provincial judge Albrecht Kryštof Hložek ze Žampachu. He had it renovated and added farm buildings to it, including a brewery and a sheep house. But just five years later, he sold the estate to Kašpar Felix Manubio de Mantua. The historian August Sedláček lists him as Karel Šťastný Manerbia.

In sixteen fifty-nine, Jiří z Donína purchased the village and that same year Markéta Blandina z Cron, the wife of Arnošt ze Schützenu, bought it from him. It was she who had the fortified house rebuilt into a Baroque castle. Their descendants owned the estate until seventeen twenty-one, when Karel Daniel Pachta z Rájova inherited it. The Pachtas held it until seventeen ninety-seven, when Arnošt Karel Pachta z Rájova sold it to Jakub Wiemar z Wiemmersberka. Five years later, the estate was purchased by Prince Josef Druhý ze Schwarzenbergu.

By then, the castle no longer served as the residence of the local authority. The Schwarzenbergs had it modified in the Classical style and their officials lived in it. After the land reform, the farm complex became a residual estate and from nineteen fifty onwards the entire compound belonged to the unified agricultural cooperative. During later modifications, all artistic decoration disappeared and the castle became a simple single-storey building with a rectangular floor plan.