Brno-Řečkovice a Mokrá Hora

Zámek Řečkovice (Řečkovice Chateau) is a modest, single-story Baroque building standing on Palackého náměstí, at the heart of Brno-Řečkovice a Mokrá Hora, a district in the northern part of Brno. Today the building houses the local municipal office, but it carries a history stretching back centuries — from a medieval fortified manor, through Jesuit ownership, into the hands of one of Central Europe's aristocratic families.

Where does the story of this place begin?

The story predates the chateau itself. The first written record of the Řečkovice tvrz — a fortified manor house that was the predecessor of today's building — dates from 1464. How significant Řečkovice and its manor were within the area around Brno is underlined by the fact that the settlement appears on the map of Moravia drawn up by Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius) in 1627, one of the most important cartographic records of the region from that era.

How did the Jesuits turn the manor into a chateau?

The present building went up on the site of the older fortified manor after 1623, when the Řečkovice estate passed into the hands of the Jesuit order. The Jesuits remained its owners for roughly the next 150 years. It was the order that commissioned the thorough rebuilding carried out between 1712 and 1715, to a design by Moritz (Mořic) Grimm, an architect active in Moravia at the time. The result was a single-story Baroque chateau that never really served as a residence in the usual sense — instead, it functioned as the administrative seat for the Jesuits' extensive landholdings around Brno.

What happened to the chateau after the Jesuit order was dissolved?

Following the suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773, the Řečkovice estate and its chateau passed to the so-called study fund (studijní fond), an institution that managed former Jesuit property. By the early 19th century the building had lost its earlier administrative character and was converted into housing — officials, clerks, and farmhands who worked the estate's bull-breeding operation moved in. Over the following decades, through the 19th century and into the early 20th, the chateau changed hands several times. From 1905 its owners included Alois Schönburg-Hartenstein, a member of a well-known Central European noble family — a sign that, despite losing its original function, the property was still considered a valuable estate.

What is the chateau used for today, and what about the district itself?

Today the chateau belongs to the municipality and serves as the seat of the Úřad městské části Brno-Řečkovice a Mokrá Hora, the local district office — a practical, if less glamorous, chapter after centuries of shifting fortunes. In 1992 the building was listed as an immovable cultural monument of the Czech Republic, formally recognizing its historic value. The district itself, Řečkovice a Mokrá Hora, was once an independent municipality and cadastral unit; it became part of Brno on 24 November 1990 and today covers 756.86 hectares in the northern part of the city.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit the inside of the chateau? Since it houses an active district office, the interior is not open to the public in the usual tourist sense — but the exterior can be admired while walking across Palackého náměstí.

Who gave the building its current appearance? Its Baroque form comes from the Jesuits, who rebuilt the older fortified manor between 1712 and 1715 to a design by architect Moritz Grimm.

Where exactly is the chateau located? At Palackého náměstí 11/78, in the Brno-Řečkovice a Mokrá Hora district, in the northern part of Brno.

Is the building legally protected? Yes — since 1992 it has been listed as an immovable cultural monument (kulturní památka) of the Czech Republic.