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

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