Libochovice Chateau

Libochovice was rebuilt between 1683 and 1690 for Gundakar of Dietrichstein by Antonio Della Porta on the site of an older castle beside the Ohre, and it is one of the more complete early baroque country houses in Bohemia, with interiors that kept their stucco, painted ceilings and furnishing. Its best room is the sala terrena on the garden front, encrusted with shells, stones and stucco figures in the grotto manner and opening straight onto the parterre. The formal French garden behind runs to about ten hectares with an orangery, statuary and old trees, and the view from it takes in Hazmburk on its cone across the fields. Jan Evangelista Purkyne, one of the founders of modern physiology and of cell theory, was born in the chateau in 1787 where his father was an estate official, and there is a museum room on him.

What you actually see

• A shell-encrusted sala terrena - grotto work opening onto the garden parterre.
• Early baroque interiors - stucco, painted ceilings and original furnishing.
• A ten-hectare French garden - orangery, statuary and a view to Hazmburk.
• Purkyne's birth room - the physiologist born here in 1787.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only, seasonal, closed in winter. Several routes with separate tickets. The garden is included but the orangery may be closed. The town has limited services.

Nearby

Hazmburk is five kilometres away; Litomerice is north.