Lamberk Manor House near Olešnice

Olešnice Castle, known locally as the Lamberk chateau (zámeček Lamberk), is a small Baroque hunting lodge standing about a kilometer northwest of the town of Olešnice, in the Blansko district of the South Moravian Region. It's a modest, largely forgotten site off the usual tourist trail — today badly deteriorated and closed to visitors, but with a history stretching back to the turn of the 18th century.

Who built Lamberk, and when?

The present complex was built around 1700 on the initiative of a count from the Lamberg (Lamberk) family, then owner of the Kunštát estate, to which Olešnice belonged. It replaced an earlier farmstead known as the Černohausen court, built in the early 17th century by David Černohausen of Neudorf, an administrator of the Kunštát estate at the time. The Lambergs held the Kunštát estate from 1678 to 1733, and the new building was intended as their summer residence and hunting lodge for the surrounding forests.

What does the complex look like?

Lamberk's most distinctive feature is its near-perfect hexagonal layout — an unusual shape for a building of this kind. Farm buildings ring a central courtyard, and a two-story Baroque residential wing with a stone entrance portal stands on the southeastern side; the founder's coat of arms once adorned the space above the doorway. The complex's architectural value has been considerably diminished by later alterations, especially those carried out in the second half of the 20th century, which erased much of the original detail.

What happened to Lamberk after the Lambergs left?

After 1733, when the Kunštát estate passed to new management, the building lost its residential purpose and was converted for practical use, serving among other things as the forestry office of the Kunštát estate. In the mid-20th century it was taken over by an agricultural cooperative (JZD), which accelerated its decline. Today Lamberk is privately owned and is described as being in a critical, near-derelict state — the interiors are largely destroyed, and even the stone coat of arms above the entrance has badly deteriorated.

Can visitors tour Lamberk?

No. The site remains closed to the public and sits in the shadow of the region's better-known monuments in the Moravian Karst area. It is nonetheless listed among the Czech Republic's protected cultural monuments, standing as a record of the Baroque farm architecture once associated with the Kunštát estate. Olešnice itself, to which Lamberk administratively belongs, is a small town roughly 9 kilometers northwest of Kunštát; it belonged to the Pernštejn family from 1496, later formed part of the Kunštát estate, and only gained official town status in 1999.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the Lamberk manor located? About a kilometer northwest of Olešnice, in the Blansko district of the South Moravian Region.

When was the current building constructed? Around 1700, commissioned by a count of the Lamberg family, then owner of the Kunštát estate.

What stood on the site before it? An earlier farmstead built in the early 17th century by David Černohausen of Neudorf.

Why does the complex have a hexagonal shape? It's a distinctive, unusual layout of farm buildings arranged around a courtyard, with the residential wing on the southeastern side.

Can Lamberk be visited today? No — it is privately owned, in poor structural condition, and closed to visitors.