Zámek Lobeč Chateau

The Baroque chateau Lobeč stands on a hilltop in the southern part of the same-named municipality northeast of Mšena, on the edge of the protected landscape area Kokořínsko – Máchův kraj. Together with the brewery, it is among the dominant landmarks of the municipality. The chateau, several farm buildings, a gardener's house and a park are all heritage-protected.

The first written mention of the Lobeč estate dates from 1323, when Přísnobor z Lobče gave the local property to his friend Jindřích z Mutěnic. The municipality was divided into Upper and Lower Lobeč and both estates frequently changed owners. The fortified house was already mentioned as ruins in 1513. In the 16th century, Lobeč belonged to the Lobeckys of Lobče. In 1601, Barbora Berková, born Lobkovicová, purchased it and attached it to the Bezděz estate. The property of the Berks of Dubé was confiscated for their participation in the Estates Rebellion and in 1623 it was acquired by Albrecht z Valdštejna.

For his involvement in Wallenstein's murder, Colonel Walter Butler received Bezděz along with other estates in 1634. He was supposed to pay another participant, Irish Lieutenant Colonel Robert Geraldino. However, he had no money, so the Mšeno-Lobeč estate was separated from Bezděz and in 1638 given to Geraldino. The chateau was built for him in the middle of the 17th century, probably on the foundations of a vanished fortified house.

Through the marriage of Geraldino's daughter Maria Klára, Lobeč passed to the Věžníks of Věžník, who owned it until 1765. Jan Ignác Věžník remodeled the chateau in 1724 and used material from the demolished chateau in nearby Romanův. The Věžníks' debts were growing, and thanks to the estate valuation, a description of the chateau from 1746 has been preserved.

Then came a succession of owners: the Clary-Aldringens, the Veiths and the Kounícs. In 1828, the Prague family Vaňků purchased Lobeč, from which came the Prague mayor Václav Vaňka. Under their ownership, the chateau was renovated in 1833. A later owner, lawyer and businessman Rudolf Cicvárek, modernized the brewery that still operates today. In 1928, Josef Šimonek, general director of the Škoda Works, purchased Lobeč, where he also died. After nationalization in 1948, the chateau served the state farm and later as a rehabilitation clinic of the psychiatric clinic of the Prague university hospital.

In 1991, the complex was returned to the Šimonek family through restitution. The chateau underwent demanding reconstruction and today serves as accommodation. It is a single-story Baroque building on a rectangular floor plan, whose entrance facade is enlivened by a risalit with a balcony. In the rock beneath the chateau is a carved cellar, probably the only remnant of the fortified house, today a wine cellar. To the west of the chateau, an arranged park spreads out.