Manetin

Manetin is called the baroque pearl of western Bohemia because of what the Lazansky family did after a fire destroyed half the town in 1712: Vaclav Josef Lazansky had the chateau rebuilt to plans by Jan Blazej Santini-Aichel, and Marie Gabriela Lazanska then commissioned an extraordinary quantity of sculpture for the town and the estate, mostly from the workshop of Stepan Borovec, so that saints, angels and allegorical figures stand along the streets, on the bridge, in front of the church and up the approach to the chateau - around thirty pieces in the town itself and more in the surrounding villages, which for a place of this size is without parallel in the country. The chateau interiors have painted rooms and a large group of servants' portraits, a genre almost nowhere else preserved, showing the household staff by name and office. The town is tiny and quiet and the sculpture is free to walk among.

History

The name comes from the personal name Maňata. Manětín is first mentioned in 1169, when King Vladislaus II gave the settlement to the Knights Hospitaller, who built a commandery, town walls and a fortress with a monastery; in 1420 King Sigismund gave the town to Bohuslav of Švamberk, though legally it belonged to the order until 1483, when the Švamberks paid them off. The Švamberks sold it in 1544 to Volf the Younger Krajíř of Krajek, and from 1548 the Schlick family replaced the old fortress with a Renaissance castle and greatly enlarged the estate, until debts forced them to sell in 1617. Owners changed quickly during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1639 the Lažanský family inherited Manětín. In 1712 a great fire destroyed half the town together with the castle, church and school, and immediately afterwards Václav Josef Lažanský had the castle completely rebuilt to plans by Jan Santini Aichel (Wikipedia, Manětín).

What's there

• Baroque statues in the streets - around thirty pieces on bridges, squares and approaches.
• One patron's programme - commissioned by Marie Gabriela Lazanska after the 1712 fire.
• Servants' portraits - the household painted by name and office, a rare survival.
• A painted chateau interior - the rooms rebuilt after the fire.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

What to expect

The chateau opens seasonally on guided routes and closes in winter. The town is very small with almost no services. Public transport is poor. The sculpture is outdoors and weathered.

Nearby

Plasy monastery is east; Marianska Tynice is north-east.

Key facts