zámek Chrámce Chateau

Chrámecký zámek stands in the village of Chrámce, a local part of the municipality of Skršín in the Mostecko region. It is a classicist building in private ownership, registered on the list of cultural monuments. The castle stands on elevated rocky ground, and therefore is a natural landmark of the municipality. Because it is built directly on the rock, it has no basement.

Its origins date back to the fourteenth century, when a Gothic fortress was built here. The first written mention comes from the year 1381. At that time, the local fortress was owned by Jan de Kystern. Later, it was ruled by Jíra Vchynský z Vchynic and the family from Černčic. The heiress Hedvika z Chrámců brought the manor as a dowry to Pavel Šavel z Vlkové. Between 1570 and 1571, the fortress was rebuilt as a Renaissance castle.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Chrámce belonged to the Rejský z Dubnice family and later to the Zessners ze Spitzenberka. In 1767, it was purchased by Count Josef Leopold d'Elbeuf, who emigrated to Austria before the French Revolution. It was he who had the castle rebuilt between 1795 and 1805 into its present form. The Renaissance core and remains of the Gothic fortress on the ground floor were preserved, but the first floor was completely rebuilt in the classicist style.

The oldest part consists of a Renaissance core with four vaulted rooms with perimeter walls approximately 120 centimeters thick. In the entrance hall, two Renaissance columns support low flat vaults. On the first floor, however, there is a clear effort to open the living spaces to the sun.

From 1864, the castle was owned by the Chotkové family. They mainly devoted themselves to the farm buildings. They expanded the park around the entire castle, which separated the farm operations from the residential part, and built a granary for agricultural operations. Later, the estate was acquired by the Kurchbergers from Prague and the Čermáks also held a share in it.

After the occupation of the Sudetenland, the castle was confiscated from its Czech owners and converted into the Reich Postal Office. In 1949, the estate was nationalized and the State Farm Most used the castle as a recreational facility. During reconstruction between 1972 and 1974, the great hall received a new fresco in place of the destroyed one, and a fireplace was created in the entrance hall where the original Renaissance one had been. However, the old tiled stove disappeared at the same time.

From 1994, the castle returned to its original owners through restitution. Their family has been running the adjacent estate since 1996 in an ecological agriculture program. At the turn of 1997 and 1998, the castle received a new roof, after 40 years the castle clock was repaired, and the granary also underwent reconstruction.