Zámek Osová Castle

Zámek Osová in the municipality Osová In the Žďár nad Sázavou district, the poor girl is the result of more than seven hundred years of gradual building modifications and changes to owners. Today's baroque building of a closed quadruple layout grows from the original Gothic water fortress from the beginning of the 14th century, which later renaissance reconstructions adapted according to the style at the time. The whole made up of a castle and a natural landscape park is protected as a cultural monument.

Osová appeared for the first time in the written sources of 1329, when Henry of Ron and Axis held it. The gentlemen of Ronov have probably established a fortress here in the territory originally belonging to the Dominion of Pribyslav of Křižanov. The water fort is directly reminiscent of 1348. Over the next decade, the castle was changing owners. In 1373 it was awarded by Margrave Jan Jindřech to the Elder of Lomnice in the summer. In 1407 he conquered it and defeated Vok mladší z Holštejna, allegedly by order of the Margrave. Later, Lacek z Meziříčí, Zbyněk from Doubravice and other noblemen took control.

The crucial break came in 1552 when the fort bought Jan Polcar z Paračova. The construction is then declared desolate. In the second half of the 16th century the Polcaras restored the fortress in Renaissance style and in 1577 it is already mentioned as a castle. After a number of other changes, the castle in 1612 came into the hands of Jan Jiří Humpolecký of Rybenska. He had a difficult time: in May 1638 he burned down and in 1643 he was plundered by passing troops. However, it gradually recovered from the damage and in 1691 it was documented as unbuilt.

In the 1920s, during the possession of Catherine of Waldorf, the castle underwent an important Baroque reconstruction. Originally closed five-wing layout was adapted to quadruple in the spirit of baroque symmetry. Two broken north wings replaced one straight wing and the west wing shifted out. A typical clock tower has grown above the southern facade. The author of the project was supposed to be Morice Grimm.

Since 1797, the castle was owned by Haugvice, the owners of the neighbouring town estate. Although they held it until 1945, the castle was not used as their headquarters - the administration of the estate was transferred to the Square to Celebration. In 1811 it was rented to set up a leather factory that worked here until 1822. After the factory was closed, the Haugvics started a gradual renovation. Before 1835 they had the western part of the Okolík pond buried. The newly created areas along with the existing garden were adapted to the natural landscape park. In 1835 Karel Wilhelm Haugwitz (1797- 1874) had the castle classicically restored to the form of a representative residence.

Osová remains protected as a cultural monument to this day. From the east it is surrounded by the Okolík pond, the natural landscape park is situated in the west. The construction is a testament to the long development of Central European architecture from the Gothic water fortress to the Renaissance and Baroque reconstruction to its classical unification in the 19th century.