Namest nad Oslavou

Namest was rebuilt in the 1560s and 1570s for the Zerotin family from a Gothic castle into a Renaissance chateau on a rock above the Oslava, with an arcaded courtyard and a long gallery. Its collections are the reason to come: a set of some two dozen Flemish and French tapestries of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, hung in the rooms rather than in store, which makes it one of the more important tapestry holdings in the country, and a tapestry restoration workshop has operated on the site since the 1950s and works on pieces from collections across the republic. There is also a substantial library of about fifteen thousand volumes. Below the chateau a baroque bridge with statues crosses the Oslava, sometimes called the Moravian Charles Bridge.

History

Náměšť was founded around 1220, and in the 13th century its castle belonged to the Lords of Lomnice. In the 14th and 15th centuries armies repeatedly took and destroyed it: Cumans in 1304, the army of Lacko of Kravaře in 1408, and in the Hussite Wars the armies of Sigismund and Albert II. The Lords of Lomnice held it again from 1481 to 1563, when it passed to the Zierotin family, and Jan the Elder of Zierotin replaced the old Gothic castle with a large Renaissance residence; in 1628 Karl the Elder of Zierotin had to sell the estate to Albrecht of Wallenstein, who passed it at once to the Werdenberg family, owners until 1733. From 1752 the Haugwitz family held Náměšť, and under Count Jindřich Vilém Haugwitz (1770-1842), a composer, the chateau kept an orchestra of more than thirty players with 24 choristers and 9 soloists, and his friend Antonio Salieri dedicated to him a Requiem that had its premiere in the chateau chapel. The railway arrived in 1866, Náměšť became a town in 1923, and in 1949 the chateau was opened to the public with its collection of tapestries installed (Wikipedia, Náměšť nad Oslavou; Czech Wikipedia, Náměšť nad Oslavou (zámek)).

What you'll find

• Two dozen tapestries - Flemish and French work hung in the rooms.
• A restoration workshop - working on tapestries from across the country since the 1950s.
• The chateau library - about fifteen thousand volumes.
• A statued baroque bridge - crossing the Oslava below the chateau.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

What to expect

Guided tours only, seasonal, closed in winter. The workshop is not generally open to visitors. Light levels in the tapestry rooms are low for conservation. The town is small.

Nearby

Trebic and its Jewish quarter are twenty kilometres west.