Ubytování - Perla Posázaví

HISTORY AND THE PRESENT

For more than 760 years, the landscape of the middle stream of the Sazava river is dominated by Český Šternberk castle on a steep rocky bank of the river, once called by a romantic poet the pearl of the Sazava river.

The castle was founded in 1241 by Zdeslav of the noble family Diviš and named as the „Star on the hill“ Since that time the noble family Diviš started to use a new nickname Sternberg and a new family coat of arms with a yellow eight-tip star.

It is remarkable and certainly unique, the castle is now the possession of the family of its former builder Zdeslav of Sternberg.

Medieval form of early-Gothic castle is hidden in the heart of today's construction, which was created by a few modifications. Building development extends from late Gothic reconstructions, enhance the defense system, to the magnificent early Baroque interior modifications for the purpose of convenient habitation.

EXHIBITION

Guided tour leads through fifteen richly furnished rooms. Visitors go through the large, gloriously equipped Knight's Hall with a number of valuable artifacts, rarely decorated chapel of St.. Sebastian, a yellow room with the early Baroque stucco furnished in Louis XVI style and enter the ladies' salon. A cozy library with several thousand volumes and an excellent painting, which is attributed to the Czech painter Petr Brandl. The tour follows to the large dining room, decorated with sheet silver that covers the walls of galleries representing the major large-scale portraits of Sternberg family.

Following salons are an oriental lobby and breakfast room with a collection of silver statues, furnished with marquetted furniture. Jiri Sternberg´s cabinet offers people interested in genealogy a painting of family tree in six generations with 63 portraits of ancestors in historical costumes and uniforms. In the other four chambers the visitors gradually find different styles - Rococo, Biedermeier, Empire and the Baroque and can enjoy many of works of art. Visitors interested in hunting will be attracted by the hunting salon, with walls decorated with trophies of different kinds of game. The central staircase corridor is decorated by three large paintings created by Filip Sternberg, showing battle scenes from the 18th, 19th and 20th centurie

The castle also hosts contains a unique collection of prints, focused on the history of the Thirty Years' War. This collection of copperplates, gathered in the beginning of the 20th century by Jiri Sternberg , has 545 pieces and is rated as one of the most important collections of this theme.

Exposure rooms are complemented by an interesting collection of historical weapons, sets of china and various rare examples of small-scale arts and crafts of past centuries.

TRANSFORMATIONS OF ČESKÝ ŠTERNBERK OVER THE CENTURIES

• 1241 - Castle built by Zdeslav of Sternberg
• 14th century – Fortifications are improved through the construction of three-story tower, connected to the castle by a rampart
• 1465 - Zdeněk of Sternberg leads the Zelenohorský action against the king
• 1467 - Castle falls to the royal armies of Jiří of Poděbrady
• Period around 1500 – Reconstruction and expansion of the damaged castle; defensive system improved; construction of the cylindrical southern tower and the “Dungeon”
• 1627 - Castle sacked by rebels
• 1670's - Italian artist Carlo Brentano creates stucco reliefs in the interiors
• 1712 - Jan Václav dies, leaving no male heir: the Holicý branch of the Sternberg family dies out and the castle passes into ownership of a series of other families
• 1751 - The lower palace is built next to the surrounding wall
• 1841 - Zdeněk of Sternberg from the Konopiště branch of the family buys the castle
• 1949 - Castle is nationalized
• 1992 - Restitution of the castle to the current owner, Zdeněk Sternberg

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