Mělník Castle
Mělník is a castle converted into a chateau on a hill above the Elbe River. It forms one of the dominant features of the town of Mělník. The preserved form is the result of Baroque reconstruction and later modifications. It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.
History of the castle
The predecessor of Mělník was an early medieval hillfort built probably at the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries. It covered approximately the area of the medieval town and castle. It is assumed that there used to be a fortification in the area of the town, while the acropolis was located on the site of the castle. At the end of the tenth century, the castle became the seat of Princess Emma and denarii were minted in the local mint.
In 1274, King Přemysl Otakar II made the Mělník sub-castle a town and later Charles IV made it a perpetual town of Czech queens. The town also became the centre of the Czech wine industry. Wine was also imported from here for the Czech king.
Originally Romanesque and Gothic, Mělník Castle remained in the possession of the royal crown until 1542, when King Ferdinand I mortgaged it to Zdislav Berk of Dubá and Lipá. He rebuilt the castle into a comfortable Renaissance-style residence. During the reconstruction, the northern wing with a tower was also built.
After the Thirty Years' War, when the castle fell into disrepair, it was mortgaged in 1646 to the Czernins of Chudenice, who managed the estate for five years. Then they bought the chateau from Emperor Leopold I and in 1685-1686 they carried out Baroque renovations, which gave the chateau its present appearance.
In 1753, Mělník Chateau passed to its present owners by the marriage of Maria Ludmilla, the last heiress of the Czernin family, to August Antonín of Lobkowitz (1729-1803). The Lobkowitz family owned the chateau until 1938, when it was first confiscated by the Nazis and then nationalized by the Communists in 1948.
In 1992, the castle was returned to the Lobkowicz family, specifically to Jiří Jan of Lobkowicz, in restitution and underwent further reconstruction.
WikipediaWebsite:https://www.lobkowicz-melnik.cz
