REGION

Chateau Bruntál

The Chateau Bruntál is the pearl of the Bruntál District. It reflects the city’s rich history, and present

cultural and social life. It offers guided tours of standard expositions as well as special attractions, such as

the Museum for Seniors, Creative Workshops, and more. The Chateau Bruntál and Castle Sovinec with

Water Driven Iron Mill Kosárna in Karlovice, also administered by the Museum Bruntál, public-benefit

corporation of the Moravian-Silesian Region.

The current state of Chateau Bruntál is the result of

five centuries of construction and development. The

original late Gothic castle at the town walls was later

renovated and rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau with

a circular ground plan with a gallery of arcades in the

courtyard and a clock tower, built by the Lords of Vrbno

and Bruntál in the late 1500s. During the rule of the

Teutonic Order, the castle was reshaped into its current

baroque structure by the architect F. A. Neumann in

1766–1771. Minor renewals were made in the 19th and

early 20th centuries. The most valuable interiors are

open to the public. The Chateau Exposition consists of

the chapel on the ground floor and chateau halls on

the first floor, some of which are decorated with rococo

murals of extraordinary quality and value, with original

furnishings from the 18th to early 20th centuries. The art

collection includes paintings by Italian, Dutch, Flemish,

and German Masters of the 16th-18th centuries. The

huge Chateau Library is also of extraordinary historical

value and importance.

The halls in the oldest part of the chateau (from early

16th century) house two permanent museal expositions:

Nature of Bruntál Area (Příroda Bruntálska), and Useful

Trades Pay Dividends (Řemeslo má zlaté dno), which

is about the artisan and crafts of the district of Bruntál.

Other parts of the chateau which were originally

the kitchen, larders, storerooms, and stables on the

ground floor nowadays serve as short-term exhibition

halls showing collections and works from the Bruntál

Museum, as well as other institutions.

… Did You Know…

… Chateau Bruntál is situated in a historical park

which dates back to the 16th century?

The park is about 2.5ha large. Its layout changed

significantly after 1894, during the times of the

Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, the archduke

Eugen von Habsburg, following plans drafted by

Georg Hauberrisser. The baroque form remained

at the chateau’s front while the rest was designed as

a natural landscape park. You can come across the

remains of the former town walls, a garden hall (sala

terrena) from the early 20th century, the citadel, and

a few sandstone statues from the turn of the 19th

century. The sala terrena is currently being thoroughly

renewed (the work will be finished by mid-2020). This

is how the Chateau Bruntál will open more unique

rooms to the public and offer social events, chamber

concerts, and the inviting atmosphere of the Chateau

Café.

Text:

archiv Muzea v Bruntále,

příspěvkové organizace

Moravskoslezského kraje

Foto: archiv MSK

www.msk.cz

POSITIV 3/2019 ǀ 77