Zámek Rychvald Chateau

Rychvald Château, also known as Starý dvůr, stands in the western part of the town of Rychvald in the Karviná district, just a few kilometres from Ostrava. Rychvald lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. The château is a cultural monument and belongs to a private owner; it has never belonged to the town.

Seat of the Barský z Baště family

Rychvald belonged to the Duchy of Cieszyn (Teschen). The duke fell into debt and had to sell part of his estate, including Rychvald. In 1573 it was bought by Burian Barský z Baště. His son Bernard Barský z Baště chose Rychvald as his seat and in 1575–1577 built an extensive two-storey Renaissance château here. According to the town, it is the oldest surviving building in Rychvald. By tradition, stone from the demolished Benedictine monastery in Orlová was used in its construction. As a Protestant, Bernard Barský also had a masonry church built – today's Church of St Anne.

Four wings around a courtyard

The château has four wings around a courtyard. According to the town, it measures 60 × 80 metres on the outside and the courtyard 48 × 48 metres. The north and east wings were residential; the south and west wings housed granaries and stables. The chapel was only added during one of the later rebuildings. The stone portal of the main entrance bears the coats of arms of Bernard Barský z Baště and his third wife, Anna Sobišovská ze Šinovic. A metal combined coat of arms of the Larisch-Mönnich and Starhemberg families with a count's coronet was later placed above the portal.

From the Barský family to the Starhembergs

The Barský family held Rychvald until 1630. After them the estate passed through other families: the Tluks of Tošanovice, the Haugwitz family of Biskupice, the Vrbna family, the Freudenthal family and the Gašín family of Rosenberg. In the mid-18th century the indebted Gašíns sold Rychvald to Baron Jan Václav Mönnich. His only daughter and heiress, Anna Maria, married Count Jan Josef Larisch in 1791, founding the Larisch-Mönnich family. Evžen (Eugen) Larisch-Mönnich and his daughter Franziska carried out practical rebuilding of the château in the second half of the 19th century. In 1869 a stop on the Košice–Bohumín Railway was opened right in front of the château and named after it: Schloss Reichwaldau. In 1898 Franziska married Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, later a prince, and brought him the château as her dowry. From 1903 the Starhemberg family held the château and the estate.

Decay and rescue

After 1945 the château was expropriated. It was taken over by the National Property Administration, which in 1950 handed it to the Rychvald collective farm (JZD); the farm turned it into storerooms, flats and a farmyard. It has been a cultural monument since 1958, but even that did not stop the decay. From 1962 to 1989 it belonged to the OKD company's Rekultivace plant, and by 1988 its demolition was already being considered. In the 1990s several owners came and went and the château kept deteriorating. The turning point came only in 2009, when it was bought by Ing. Pavel Šmíra. In 2010–2016 he had the château and the adjoining grounds completely reconstructed.