Klasterec nad Ohri

Klasterec made porcelain from 1794, when a factory was founded on the estate using local kaolin, until production ended in 2024, and it became one of the significant Bohemian producers - the industry here and at Karlovy Vary supplied the Habsburg lands and exported widely. The chateau, a Renaissance and later baroque house of the Thun family beside the Ohre, now holds a branch of the Prague decorative arts museum with the largest collection of porcelain in the country: Bohemian production from the eighteenth century onward, Meissen, Vienna, Sevres and a substantial group of Asian export ware. The park around it is English landscape with old trees, sculpture by Jan Brokoff and a spa section using local mineral springs. The town sits between the Ore Mountains and the Doupovske hory. It is a quiet place and the collection is better than the town's profile suggests.

History

Klášterec, a diminutive of klášter meaning "little monastery", takes its name from the small monastery that Benedictines from Postoloprty founded here between 1150 and 1250 together with a settlement; it is not known which is older, and the first written mention dates from 1352. The Hussite Wars did not affect the town much, by the mid-15th century it was called a market town, the town wall was completed at the beginning of the 16th century, and houses built behind it during that century formed the "lower town". In 1794 the oldest porcelain factory in Bohemia was founded here, and the town became famous for its porcelain as one of the earliest European regions of porcelain production; production ended in 2024. Since 1921 the town has been called Klášterec nad Ohří to tell it apart from other places of the same name (Wikipedia, Klášterec nad Ohří).

The main sights

• The national porcelain collection - the largest in the country, in the chateau.
• Bohemian and European ware - local production alongside Meissen, Vienna and Sevres.
• A Thun family house - Renaissance and baroque beside the Ohre.
• An English park - old trees, Brokoff sculpture and mineral springs.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Good to know

Closed Mondays and reduced in winter. The collection is specialist and the labelling assumes interest. The town is quiet with limited food. The park is free and open all year.

Nearby

Kadan and its old town are downstream; the Ore Mountains rise north.