Castle Šebetov

Šebetov Castle stands in the small village of Šebetov, in the Blansko district of the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic. Closed to visitors for decades, the building and its surrounding park still draw the attention of travelers passing through the area around Boskovice and the Rychvald hill.

Where is the castle located?

Šebetov lies in the northeastern part of the Blansko district, on the southwest side of the wooded Rychvald hill, which reaches 607 meters. The castle sits within the village and is bordered by a 2.7-hectare park planted with roughly a dozen conifer species and more than sixty types of deciduous trees.

How did the castle come to be built?

The building's origins go back to the second half of the 16th century, when the Cistercian monastery of Hradisko near Olomouc built it as a summer residence for its abbots. The Renaissance core of the structure survives today, although the interiors were already remodeled once in 1614. In 1694, the Italian sculptor Baldassare Fontana decorated several rooms with Baroque stuccowork that is still regarded as one of the castle's most valuable features.

The monastery held the estate until Emperor Joseph II dissolved the order in 1784, after which the property passed to the state Religious Fund. That fund later transferred ownership to Count Karl Strachwitz, who acquired the estate in 1825.

Who gave the castle its present appearance?

The turning point came in August 1877, when the estate was purchased by Viennese banker and industrialist Baron Moritz Königswarter, a member of a wealthy Jewish merchant family. Wanting to turn Šebetov into a grand family seat, he commissioned a sweeping rebuild beginning in 1885, executed in pseudo-Renaissance style under Viennese architect Wilhelm Stiassny. That project is what gave the castle the form visitors see today. The Königswarter family kept the property through the first half of the 20th century, until it was confiscated at the end of the Second World War.

What happens at the castle today?

After the war, the building took on a social-care role. A care facility housing deaf-mute women and girls moved here from Horní Krč, near Prague, laying the groundwork for today's institution. The building remains state property and now houses Sociální služby Šebetov, a care facility for women with intellectual disabilities. Because of this function, the castle is not open to the public and its interiors cannot be visited.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit Šebetov Castle? No. The building operates as a social-care facility and is not open to visitors.

How old is the castle? Its Renaissance core dates from the second half of the 16th century, while its current pseudo-Renaissance appearance comes from a reconstruction carried out in the 1880s.

Who built Šebetov Castle? It was built by the Cistercian monastery of Hradisko near Olomouc as a summer residence for its abbots.

What can visitors see around the castle? The 2.7-hectare castle park, planted with a mix of conifer and deciduous trees, can be visited on foot within the village of Šebetov.