Zámek Prostějov Chateau

Zámek Prostějov represents one of the major Renaissance buildings in the Czech Republic. As a cultural monument of the Czech Republic, it forms an essential part of the historical core Prostějova and is a testament to the long development of architecture and the use of buildings over four centuries.

The construction started in 1522 by Jan IV of Pernštejn and was originally intended as a fortress. Construction work lasted several years; a substantial part of the construction work was completed in 1532. In the second half of the 16th century, namely between 1568 and 1572, then owner Vratislav II. z Pernštejna had the castle extensively rebuilt to a mansion. At that time, the arcades and clearly the most famous element - the entrance portal with rich stone decoration, which bears the coats of arms of Wroclaw and his Spanish wife Marie Manrique de Lara y Mendoza.

During the Thirty Years' War, construction suffered severe damage. Most of the building was destroyed, with the only element that was without significant repairs remaining the said portal. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle became the property of Charles I. of Liechtenstein and served as a seat of economic administration. In 1643, Swedish troops burned him down. The castle was subsequently temporarily repaired, but it never worked as a mansion - it served as a granary, warehouse, prison and later also a textile factory.

It is an architectural building with four wings and a rectangular courtyard. The facade oriented towards the historical core of the city is planted with an asymmetrically located portal. The façade is lined with rich sgraffiti decoration from the beginning of the 20th century, which was carried out according to Jano Köhler's design. The facade is broken by rectangular windows with stone lining, the roof is saddled, above the side wings of the Mansard.

The new life of the chateau was breathed into the second half of the 19th century, when the Chmelařová family bought it in 1868 and created a cultural centre there. In 1893 the chateau was purchased by the Credit Society bookmark and pawnshop in Prostějov, which in the years 1900 to 1906 he had performed extensive reconstruction in the Neo-Renaissance style. That's when the Renaissance sgraffiti was created, which still decorate the building today. Another repair of the facade took place in 1959. The last major transformation was completed between 2009 and 2010, when it was partly rebuilt for the needs of the folk art school.

The castle is now the property of the statutory city Prostějova and serves the local community. Visitors can see here the best preserved element - the stone portal Wroclaw from Pernštejn - and appreciate the connection with the important Czech nobility and rich layer of sgraffiti decoration, which speaks of an attempt to restitute the glare of the building in recent times.