Castle Dubová

Zámek Dubová is a modest Baroque chateau in the village of Radkov-Dubová in Czech Silesia (Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic), built between 1774 and 1776 for Jan Julius Frobel, owner of the Vikštejn estate. It replaced an earlier farm building that had belonged to Vikštejn Castle since 1640, and for generations it functioned as the estate's administrative center and an occasional residence for its owners.

What does the chateau look like?

The building is a single-story, rectangular structure with a three-bay projecting frontispiece decorated with pilasters and a triangular pediment. Its windows are framed by ornamental moldings with cornices above and below, and a small tower crowns the roofline. The overall design mixes its original Baroque core with Classicist touches added during renovations in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Who owned the chateau over the centuries?

The ownership history of Zámek Dubová traces the fortunes of several noble and bourgeois families of Czech Silesia. After builder Jan Julius Frobel, the property passed in 1783 to the Counts of Tenczyn, then in 1814 to the Arzu family. Emanuel Glasner acquired it in 1860. The longest tenure belonged to the Counts Razumovsky, who owned the estate from 1884 until 1945 and expanded their holdings further in 1888–1899 by adding the Vítkov and Melč estates.

What happened to the chateau during and after the war?

During the German occupation, the building briefly served as a Wehrmacht hospital. Following liberation in 1945, the Razumovsky family emigrated and the estate was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state. In the following decades the chateau changed function repeatedly — from the 1960s until 2004 it housed an agricultural school and a special-education facility.

What is the chateau used for today?

Today Zámek Dubová operates as a children's home. Unlike many Czech castles and chateaux that have been converted into museums, this means the building is not open to visitors. It remains part of the local social-care infrastructure, and while its historic fabric survives, it now serves a social rather than a tourist purpose.

Where is Dubová and how do you get there?

The village of Dubová (formerly Horní Vikštejn, German: Ober-Wigstein) is part of the municipality of Radkov, in the Opava District of the Moravian-Silesian Region in the northeastern Czech Republic, close to the Polish border. The chateau sits at roughly 49.815°N, 17.771°E. The surrounding area is rural and agricultural, and the building is best seen from the outside, along the road connecting Dubová with Radkov.

What is notable about the grounds?

A defining feature of the landscape around the chateau is a 250-meter linden avenue, more than 150 years old, connecting the building to the village of Radkov. The chateau itself is set within a 2.14-hectare park with a pond and plantings of rare tree species — a surviving piece of the 18th-century designed landscape that once accompanied the residence.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit Zámek Dubová? No — the building is not open to the public because it currently houses a children's home.

In what architectural style was it built? Baroque, with Classicist elements added during later renovations in the 19th and 20th centuries.

When was the chateau built? It was built between 1774 and 1776 at the initiative of Jan Julius Frobel.

Where exactly is it located? In the village of Dubová, part of the municipality of Radkov, in the Opava District of the Moravian-Silesian Region, northeastern Czech Republic.

Is there a park around the chateau? Yes, it is surrounded by a 2.14-hectare park with a linden avenue over 150 years old and a pond.