Lechovice Castle

Lechovice Castle rises on a low hill above the village of Lechovice in the Znojmo district, right in the middle of South Moravia's wine country. The building visitors see today is a Neo-Baroque manor house, but its story starts far earlier, with a medieval stronghold that has long since vanished from the landscape.

How did a monastery's summer house become a castle?

Lechovice first appears in records in 1287 as property of the Znojmo chapter. By the 14th century a small fortified manor, a tvrz, stood on the site; it fell into decline, and by the late 15th century, when the estate belonged to the Poor Clares convent of Znojmo, only a ruined moated mound remained. Everything changed in 1660, when the estate passed to the Premonstratensian monastery of Louka near Znojmo. The monastery's abbots built a new Baroque summer residence on the hill, most likely between 1720 and 1722, probably around the same time as the nearby pilgrimage church, though local tradition also links the project to Abbot Antonín Nolbeck and the year 1740.

From monastic retreat to aristocratic seat

The building's fortunes shifted after Emperor Joseph II's church reforms: in 1784 the Louka monastery was dissolved and the property passed to the Moravian Religious Fund. In 1824 a Viennese burgher named Josef Lang bought the former monks' summer residence for 249,000 guldens and had it rebuilt into a three-wing chateau. Three years later, in 1827, Lang's daughter Julie married Baron Karl Kübeck, who went on to become Austria's finance minister, and it was the Kübeck family that shaped Lechovice for the following decades. Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Baron Maximilian Kübeck commissioned an extensive renovation in Neo-Baroque style with Art Nouveau touches, giving the chateau much of the appearance it still has today; a small chapel dedicated to Mary was added to the surrounding wall in 1904. The last family owner to inherit the estate, Blanka Kübeck, took it over in 1913 and was known as a writer and as the keeper of the chateau library.

What happened to the castle after 1945?

At the end of the Second World War, the last owner, Adalbert Kübeck, fled the estate, and advancing Soviet troops looted the interiors. In the postwar decades the chateau passed into state hands: from 1948 to 1951 it housed an agricultural research institute, followed by state farms. Between 1958 and 1994 the building served as a care home run by nuns, and afterwards, until 2012, as a branch of a drug rehabilitation clinic based in Znojmo. Decades of institutional use took a heavy toll on the original interiors and decoration.

What can visitors see today?

Since 2012 the chateau has been privately owned. Following necessary renovations, a wine cellar and event space opened on the premises in 2014, drawing on the winemaking tradition of the Znojmo region. The building is surrounded by an English-style park that today invites walks and picnics. The chateau has been protected as a cultural monument since 1973.

Frequently asked questions

Can Lechovice Castle be visited? Yes. The chateau hosts a wine bar and event space, and the surrounding English park is open to visitors for walks and picnics.

Why is the chateau sometimes called a "monks' summer residence"? Because the first solid building on the site was built as a summer retreat for the abbots of the Premonstratensian monastery of Louka near Znojmo, who owned the estate from 1660.

Who turned the monastic residence into a proper castle? Josef Lang, a Viennese burgher who bought the property in 1824 and rebuilt it into a three-wing chateau; ownership then passed to the related Kübeck family of barons.

How far is Lechovice from Znojmo? Lechovice lies in the Znojmo district of the South Moravian Region, a short distance from the town of Znojmo itself, making it an easy stop on a tour of the region's vineyards.