Bezno Castle

Bezno Castle stands on the edge of the village of Bezno, in the Mladá Boleslav district of the Central Bohemian Region. It's a Baroque residence raised in the mid-18th century by the Pachta family, set in a garden with sculptures attributed to Matyáš Bernard Braun — today a privately owned property, closed to regular visitors, but a worthwhile stop for anyone tracing the smaller castles of Central Bohemia.

Where is Bezno and how do you get there?

The village sits on road I/16, which connects Mladá Boleslav with Mělník, a dozen or so kilometres southwest of Mladá Boleslav. It's classic Central Bohemian countryside — quiet, agricultural, with bus links to both towns and none of the crowds you'd find at the region's headline sights. For anyone exploring the Mladá Boleslav area, best known for the Škoda car plant, Bezno makes a natural stop on the way to bigger attractions such as Mělník or Bezděz castle.

Where does the manor at Bezno come from?

The village itself goes back to the 11th century, with the first written mentions dating from 1050 and 1088. A noble residence only shows up in the records in 1369, when a certain Bohuněk of Libiš and Bezno is named as owner of a stronghold called Velký dvůr. Ownership in Bezno stayed fragmented for centuries, split between the local nobility and lords from Kováň, Haček, and Zvířetice. Between 1460 and 1694 the estate belonged to the knights of Bzenský of Proruba.

When was the present castle built?

The turning point came in 1724, when Jan Jáchym Pachta of Rájov bought the whole estate. It was his son, František Josef Pachta, who in 1742 decided to replace the old Velký dvůr stronghold with a new residence. The Baroque castle went up between 1743 and 1750, and was remodelled in the late Baroque style during the 1770s. A garden was laid out around the building, and it still holds Baroque sculptures of the four seasons along with a figure of Venus attributed to Matyáš Bernard Braun, one of the leading sculptors of the Czech Baroque.

Who owned the castle after the Pachta family?

In 1881 the estate was bought from the Pachtas by none other than Emperor Franz Joseph I, a sign of how sought-after the property was at the time. After Czechoslovakia was founded, the castle passed into state ownership in 1918. For much of the second half of the 20th century the building served practical purposes — first run by a state farm, later managed by the seed company Oseva. It has been listed as a protected cultural monument since 1967. A new chapter opened in 2020, when the De Bären family trust acquired the castle at an insolvency auction.

Can you visit Bezno Castle?

The castle is currently in private hands and isn't regularly open to the public. It appeals more to enthusiasts of residential architecture who want to see the building and its grounds from the outside than to visitors looking for a guided tour of period interiors. What makes it worth knowing is the sweep of its ownership history — from a medieval stronghold, through an imperial estate, to a postwar state farm — and the Baroque garden with its surviving sculptures.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is Bezno Castle located? On the edge of the village of Bezno in the Mladá Boleslav district, Central Bohemian Region, on road I/16 between Mladá Boleslav and Mělník.

Who built the current castle? The Pachta family of Rájov — construction was started by František Josef Pachta in 1742, and the Baroque building was completed between 1743 and 1750.

Is Bezno Castle open to visitors? No, it's privately owned and not regularly open for tours.

What's worth seeing around the castle? The surrounding garden, which still holds Baroque sculptures of the four seasons and a Venus figure attributed to Matyáš Bernard Braun.

Who owned the castle before it passed to the state? From 1881 it belonged to Emperor Franz Joseph I, and in 1918 it passed into the ownership of the newly formed Czechoslovak state.