Liběchov Castle

Liběchov Castle is a Baroque château in the village of Liběchov, in the Mělník district, standing on the site of a medieval stronghold above the Elbe river valley.

How did the château come to look the way it does today?

A medieval fortress once stood where the château now sits, replaced in the 16th century by a moated castle. In 1709 the estate was bought by the Pachta family of Rájov, and between 1720 and 1730 architect František Maxmilián Kaňka carried out a major Baroque rebuild that gave the house its present form while keeping older Renaissance elements within the structure. Kaňka designed the garden-facing south wing with a three-bay projecting section, while the north front was given a semicircular, multi-storey facade topped with a tower and a cupola.

A further round of changes came in the early 19th century, when the estate passed to a family of textile industrialists: first Jakub Veith, and later his son Antonín Veith.

Why is the château linked to sandstone rock sculptures?

Antonín Veith, who owned the château in the mid-19th century, was known as a patron of the arts. It was Veith who noticed the talent of Václav Levý, a self-taught sculptor who worked in the château kitchens as a cook while carving figures into the sandstone rocks around Liběchov and neighboring Želízy in his spare time. Between 1841 and 1846, Levý carved several monumental, multi-metre-high heads of fantastical, demon-like figures into the cliffs. Veith was impressed enough by the results to fund Levý's studies in Munich from 1845, under the well-known classicist sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler. Levý is also credited with some of the stone carving decoration on the château building itself. After Veith's death in 1853, Levý left for Rome.

The château park still holds old, monumental trees and mythologically themed sculptures — a remaining trace of that era of artistic patronage on the estate.

Who else spent time at the château?

During the Veith family's ownership, the Czech philosopher and mathematician Bernard Bolzano is said to have stayed at Liběchov, working there on his treatise "Paradoxes of the Infinite." The German Romantic painter Wilhelm Gail also visited and produced sketches for a planned building on the estate known as the Slavín.

What happened to the château in the 20th century?

Between 1967 and 1975, the château interiors housed an exhibition of Asian art run as a branch of Prague's Náprstek Museum. In 2002, the building suffered severe damage during the floods that struck the Elbe valley that year. After 1990, the estate was returned to private ownership through restitution.

The château complex also includes former farm buildings — a brewery, a mill, and administrative structures.

Where is Liběchov, and how do you get there?

Liběchov lies in the Mělník district of Central Bohemia, on the Elbe river near where the Pšovka stream flows into it. It makes a convenient base for visiting Václav Levý's nearby rock sculptures as well as the surrounding Kokořínsko region, known for its sandstone rock formations.

Frequently asked questions

When was Liběchov Castle built? A medieval stronghold once stood on the site, followed by a 16th-century moated castle. The building's current Baroque appearance dates from a rebuild carried out between 1720 and 1730 by architect František Maxmilián Kaňka.

Who was Antonín Veith? He was the château's 19th-century owner, a textile-industry entrepreneur and art patron who funded sculptor Václav Levý's training in Munich.

Where do the rock sculptures near Liběchov come from? They were carved between 1841 and 1846 by Václav Levý, who worked as a cook at the château and spent his free time carving monumental, fantastical heads and figures into the surrounding sandstone cliffs.

Can the château be visited today? The estate returned to private ownership after 1990. Earlier, from 1967 to 1975, it housed an Asian art exhibition run by the Náprstek Museum, and in 2002 it was badly damaged by flooding.