Krakovec Castle

This state castle, administered by the National Heritage Institute, represents the crowning achievement of the court building lodge of Wenceslas the Fourth, where the defensive function was suppressed in favor of the residential comfort of three great palaces. On the site of an older seat, it was founded at the beginning of the 1380s by Jíra of Roztok, who, however, had to sell it to Jindřich Lefl of Lažany due to debts. After a succession of owners during the Hussite Wars, the castle was acquired in 1443 by Albrecht of Kolovrat, whose descendants, known as the Krakovští of Kolovrat, resided there until 1548, when the estate was taken over by the Lobkovic family and they rebuilt it into a Renaissance chateau. Although in the seventeenth century the owners preferred other residences, in the eighteenth century the building was again adapted for habitation, and this continued until the devastating fire of 1783. During the nineteenth century, the structure, despite the most necessary maintenance, rapidly decayed and was partially dismantled for building stone. Today, this monument, open to the public and protected since 1965, is perceived as a key milestone by which the development of castle architecture into a comfortable noble residence was completed.