We never miss an opportunity to visit Czechia - normally I would use Czech Republic, but I was told that Czechia should be used now. This time, it was our friend's birthday, so we decided to visit her for a few days. Every time we go there, we try to put at least one castle on our itinerary. Castle Hluboka has been on our list for many years, but we haven't managed to visit it before as it was always closed during our stay. I really wanted to see it because I heard so many positive reviews about it. And indeed they were all true!
Luckily, the castle was open now, so we could finally visit it. However, we could only join a short tour due to the winter schedule, but short tour is better than no tour. The tour includes only the ground floor of the castle, but I'm sure that one day we will be able to do the long tour and see the other floors as well.
The castle is located in the South Bohemian region and it took us about 1.5 hours to get there by car from Prague . We were late for the tour that day, but we were staying for one night, and booked our tour for the next day. You can visit the castle only with a tour guide, and there are some tours available in English as well. We booked the English tour and we had the most amazing tour guide ever. He has so much knowledge about the castle, and was able to answer all questions that the group asked.
It was after 3PM when we arrived at Hluboka, and as the sun is setting down early these days we went to visit the gardens and enjoy the last sunshine of the day.
The castle sits on top of a hill above the small town Hluboka nad Vltavou, and it is surrounded by many forests where the former owners would have hunted in. The design of the castle and its gardens were inspired by the Windsor castle in England. It doesn't look like any other castles in Czechia. I fell in love with its design and also with its white/yellowish color as the castle seemed to be glowing in the late Autumn sunshine.
In November, there are no so many flowers in the garden, but it was still beautiful because of warm colored leaves on carefully selected trees that are growing there. I think that the garden is designed to be beautiful all year round. In the back you can see the yellow Ginkgo biloba tree. We had a storm that night and next day there were no leaves on the tree anymore. There was a group of tourists under the tree taking photos of thousands of fallen leaves instead. Little did they know what they have missed just by one day.
The castle Hluboka was originally built in the 13th century, but it looked nothing like the picturesque construction that we see now. It was rebuilt several times before it was bought in the 17th century by The Schwarzenberg family. This family coming from Austria became one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Central Europe at that time. When they acquired the castle they undertook extensive renovations with the goal to turn it to a residence fit for royalty.
They attended the coronation of Queen Victoria in England and got inspired by the architecture there. They didn't only rebuilt the castle with Windsor in mind, they also built extensive English gardens surrounding the castle.
The Schwarzenberg family was flourishing until the 20th century. They were rich and powerful, but they also took care of the country and invested in its development. Everything changed with the World War II when the last owner Adolf Schwarzenberg was forced to leave the country to escape the Nazi.
After the war the castle was nationalized and never returned to the family. It is a state property now. There were two branches of the Schwarzenberg family, the one that used to own the castle didn't have a male descendant, and therefore died off. The other branch is existing until today. The most known member of this family branch was Karel Schwarzenberg, a politician, diplomat and stateman who died only a few weeks ago.
When I saw this Ginkgo biloba tree I had to think of tons of ginkgo supplements that I took during my university studies. It must have helped as I managed to finish the school 😊
I have never seen a trees with such yellow leaves. There was not even one leave that would be brown. They turned yellow and fell of the tree.
On the far end of the castle is the most beautiful Orangery that I have ever seen. It's an iron construction that was created in a local foundry called The Golden Crown. It was added to the château in 1867.
It looks so delicate, like to was built out of lace, not iron.
There are several terraces, but they were closed. I will check it out again when I manage to come here one day in summer. The views from there over the valley must be very nice.
There is a hall inside which is used for ceremonies, such as weddings. We tried to open the door, but it was locked.
It was my favorite part of the construction. It's like a piece of art that completed the castle...
The leaves on the first day of our visit..
And on the second day.. I thought that the contrast would be much bigger after the storm, but there were only as many leaves as on the first day. I wonder where were all the leaves that fell of the tree over night. The only difference here are the water drops on the leaves and my shoes are different too! 😊
The next day we went directly to the castle for our tour. We were so excited until we learned that we couldn't take photos inside of the castle! But then I realized that I can describe the interior instead of showing it to you. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! But before that, let's look around the courtyard.
There are extensive reconstructions taking place on the castle grounds for more than 20 years. Part of the castle was cleaned and this is where we can see its white/yellowish color. The front side of the castle is still greyish, waiting for some pampering.
Look at how impressive is this construction. There are so many various shapes, bastions, and towers that one can wonder how difficult it was to find the right furniture for those rooms.
The castle can be entered through a large gate and a brick bridge. When you stand right in front of the castle take a moment to admire its beauty. This was one of the wow moments for me.
The courtyard is surrounded from all sides by what look like residential buildings. I can't confirm that as our tour only included the ground floor. But I have found a sign which mentioned that you can even stay at the castle overnight, so probably at least a part of it is used as a hotel now.
The Schwarzenberg family loved hunting, and some trophies are even on the facade.
Some much work and effort have been added to the detail of the construction. There are not many castles with so much focus on the exterior.
Now you will have to use your imagination as I describe what I saw inside...
It was very cold outside and when entered the castle we realized that it was unusually warm. They have central heating there! From the entrance hall we moved to the private suites of the last four generations of owners. The rooms had walls that were several meters thick at some places, so there was not much light coming through the windows. They were not big in size, but the decoration suggested wealth and style. It was an unusual experience as the appearance of the rooms was not guessed by historians, but it was how the families really lived.
The first room that we visited was the smoking room decorated in dark colors with many boardgames and glasses which suggested that they had a lot of fun in that room. The centerpiece of the room was a gigantic ashtray which was as big as a bucket. I could almost see the thick smoke floating around the room during the game night. All walls had plenty of hunting trophies. I have never seen so many hunting trophies and it was sort of creepy.
When we continued through other rooms we realized that hunting really was their biggest hobby. There were so many trophies that you almost couldn't see a tiny bit of walls. If there were no trophies then there were tapestries about what? You guessed it right, about hunting!
The royal couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in the hunting dining room, and we could see how the table was set and what was on the menu. The room was beautiful decorated with ornate wood carvings, pompous chandeliers and elegant furniture. Those people must have been very small as I could barely fit on one of their chairs 😊
We also walked through the apartment of the last owner (Adolf). It was not as grand as it came from the beginning of the 20th century. You could say that it was modern for that time. His wife had her apartment one floor up and their apartments were connected by a secret door with staircase. His bed was tiny, but it's because they slept in the sitting position.
The tour took 45 minutes and we learned a lot about the family. Our tour guide talked a lot and named so many Czech places that I'm sure he lost most of the audience on multiple occassions.
Do you wonder how the castle looks at night? I did too! We were so lucky that it was not raining that night, so we could walk around and admire it at night too. The gardens were however closed, so we could only get a few photos from the front.
The gate is so big that I could barely reach the handle 😊
The hotel were we were staying was built in a similar style to the castle in the 19th century. It was used as the administrative building and later as a residence. It looks like it belonged to Hluboka.
The entrance makes you feel like you were entering a castle and suddenly you become a royal even when for one night only..
We couldn't wish for better weather (well, it could have been a bit warmer). We loved this moon spectacle!
If you look closer, you will see that this is not a photo of Hluboka castle again. It's a photo of me and the castle is only secondary! 😊
I hope you have enjoyed our tour!
Thank you for reading,
Cheers!
Martina