Kacina Chateau

Kacina was built between 1806 and 1824 for Count Jan Rudolf Chotek to designs by the Dresden architect Christian Friedrich Schuricht, and it is the most complete Empire-style country house in the Czech lands: a long low block with a central domed rotunda and two curving wings ending in pavilions, arranged symmetrically in an English park. The interiors are the point - a library under the dome with its original shelving and about forty thousand volumes, a private theatre, a chapel, and rooms with period furniture, all conceived as one design rather than accumulated. It now houses the Museum of Czech Agriculture, whose collections on farming, food and rural life occupy part of the building, an arrangement that visitors either find incongruous or find interesting depending on temperament. The park was laid out at the same time and has old trees and water features.

History

Kačina was built from 1806 to 1824 on the site of the defunct medieval village of Kačín, as a prestige mansion for Jan Rudolf Chotek (1748-1824), supreme burgrave of the Kingdom of Bohemia and president of the governorate. The scheme was drawn up by the Saxon royal architect Schuricht from Dresden, and in the last years of construction Johann Philipp Jöndl also oversaw the work and strongly shaped the final appearance. The house is divided into three parts: the central building with the main halls was the family's residence, two lower quarter-circle wings with colonnades held the guest rooms, and pavilions at their ends contain the chapel and theatre on one side and on the other a library of books from the 16th to the 19th century. The park around it was founded in 1789 to the plan of the Viennese botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and was completed thirteen years before the house (Wikipedia, Kačina Castle).

What you'll find

• An Empire block with a rotunda - a domed centre with two curving wings.
• The library under the dome - original shelving and about forty thousand volumes.
• A private theatre - part of the original scheme.
• A farming museum - the agriculture collections occupying part of the house.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

Guided tours only and seasonal. The agricultural museum sections sit oddly with the Empire rooms. The park has been thinned over the years. Public transport is poor.

Nearby

Kutna Hora and Sedlec ossuary are eight kilometres east; Zleby is further on.

Key facts