Duchcov Chateau

Duchcov was rebuilt in baroque from 1675 for the Waldstein family by Jean-Baptiste Mathey, a long three-winged house with a court and a garden. In 1785 Count Josef Karl von Waldstein took on as his librarian a Venetian in his sixties with no money and nowhere to go: Giacomo Casanova, who stayed thirteen years, was miserable in the provincial cold, quarrelled with the servants, and in that time wrote the Histoire de ma vie, the memoir that is the reason anyone remembers him. He died here in 1798 and is buried in the town, though the exact grave was lost. His rooms are shown with manuscripts, furniture and portraits, and the chateau leans on him heavily and reasonably. There is also a ceiling by Vaclav Vavrinec Reiner, moved here from a demolished hospital chapel and reinstalled in a purpose-built pavilion, which is a serious piece of baroque painting.

History

The chateau began as a 13th-century fort of the Hrabišic family of Osek Castle; not before 1527 the Lobkowicz family replaced it with a one-winged Renaissance palace. Marie Polyxena of Thalmberg, widow of František Josef of Lobkowicz, married Maximilian of Waldstein in 1642, and their son Jan Bedřich of Waldstein, later Archbishop of Prague, brought the French architect Jean Baptiste Mathey to rebuild the house as a great Baroque complex with a park and a hospital, decorated by the sculptors Matthias Braun and Ferdinand Brokoff and the painter Wenzel Lorenz Reiner. Giacomo Casanova spent the last thirteen years of his life here, from 1785 to 1798, as librarian, and wrote his memoirs here. In the 19th century the house was rebuilt in Neoclassical style and the garden in the romantic manner; the Waldsteins left in 1921, and the chateau, with a portrait of Albrecht von Wallenstein by Van Dyck in its gallery, has been a national cultural monument since 2002 (Wikipedia, Duchcov Chateau).

What you'll find

• Casanova's rooms - where he worked as librarian from 1785 and wrote his memoirs.
• A Mathey baroque house - three wings around a court with a garden.
• A Reiner ceiling - moved from a demolished chapel and reinstalled in a pavilion.
• Manuscripts and portraits - the Casanova material held on site.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

What to expect

Guided tours only, seasonal, and the routes differ - check which includes the Casanova rooms. Duchcov is a former mining town and the surroundings are plain. Closed Mondays.

Nearby

Teplice spa is ten kilometres east; Osek monastery is north.

Key facts