Kravaře Chateau

Kravaře Chateau is a Baroque residence on the southeastern edge of the town of Kravaře, about 10 km from Opava, in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It now houses a regional museum, and the surrounding grounds — once laid out as an English landscape park — have largely been turned into a golf course, making this an unusual pairing of history and active leisure.

What stood on this site before the chateau?

A noble seat already existed in Kravaře in the Middle Ages: a moated, defensible stronghold first recorded in written sources in 1377. It was built by the powerful Lords of Kravaře, one of the more prominent noble families of medieval Moravia, from whom the town takes its name. That original stronghold did not survive to the present day in its early form — successive owners reshaped it over the centuries to match the tastes of their time.

Who built the chateau standing here today?

Construction on the current site is dated to 1649–1662, and it is from this period that the first archival records of a chateau here survive. One striking episode in the estate's history involves Michael Sendivogius of Skorsko, a Polish nobleman and alchemist active at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, who as the new owner of the estate commissioned a detailed land register (urbarium) in 1632. From 1636 the property passed to the Eichendorff family, who soon after the Thirty Years' War built an early Baroque chateau here and remained tied to the estate for generations.

How did the chateau take on its present grand form?

The family's rising prestige — particularly that of the free baron Jan Rudolf von Eichendorff — led to a thorough late-Baroque rebuilding in 1721–1728. It was this reconstruction that gave the chateau the form still seen today: a four-winged, single-storey building enclosing a central courtyard, with a distinctive arcaded loggia. The chateau chapel dates back further, to 1662, and was the only part of the complex to survive a fire that seriously damaged the building in 1937. Inside the chapel, a restored illusionistic ceiling fresco depicting the Assumption of Mary has been preserved.

What can visitors see in Kravaře today?

In the second half of the 18th century the Eichendorffs laid out an extensive English-style park around the chateau, romantic and loosely composed. Today much of it serves as an 18-hole golf course covering 80 hectares, extending partly into the neighboring village of Velké Hoštice; the course reached its current size after an expansion in 2012. The town of Kravaře has owned the chateau since 1990 and runs a chateau museum there, with a permanent exhibition covering the estate's history — from the alchemist Sendivogius, through the Eichendorff era, up to the events of the 20th century.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Kravaře Chateau located? In the town of Kravaře, about 10 km from Opava, in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic.

When was the current chateau built? Construction on the present site dates to 1649–1662, and the chateau took its final Baroque form during a rebuilding in 1721–1728.

Who owned the chateau over the centuries? The site belonged to the Lords of Kravaře from the Middle Ages, briefly to the Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius in the 17th century, and from 1636 to the Eichendorff family.

What survived the 1937 fire at the chateau? Only the chateau chapel from 1662, which still holds a restored ceiling fresco depicting the Assumption of Mary.

What can you visit at Kravaře Chateau today? A chateau museum with a historical exhibition, and the extensive chateau park, much of which is now an 18-hole golf course.