Castle

Constructed in 1545 – 1546 by Kryštof of Gendorf is one of the earliest buildings of the Renaissance architecture in Bohemia. It was built by an unknown architect in the style of an Italian castelet i.e. a small fortress or a fort with corner towers, enclosing four wings with residential rooms and the central court. In the Vrchlabí castle the court was substituted by the entry hall. Most probablyt he famous Italian architect Carlo Valmadi was involved in finalizing the castle. Originally the castle was surrounded by a 2,5 m wide lawn belt with an adjacent 12 m wide moat, which was crossed by three bridges. The castle went through a number of construction modifications, mostly in 2nd half of 19th century and at the beginning of 20th century. The adjacent buildings were used as farm buildings. Today the castle is a residence of the town authorities. Visitors can only see the entry hall with its doors decorated with inlaid motives and pictures of the four Krkonoše bears captured in Vrchlabí in 1665, 1693, 1701 and 1796. The most valuable treasure is a tiled stove in the former hall of knights. It is the only object of the original furnishing that has been preserved from. most exceptional is not only the stove's mere size but also its decoration. It is one of the first applications of a technique called "majolica" in Bohemia which was originally imported form northern Italy. The tiles show biblical motives and the date 1545.