Opocno Castle

Opocno was rebuilt between 1560 and 1567 for Vilem Trcka of Lipa into a Renaissance chateau around a courtyard with three storeys of open arcades on slender columns - an Italian arrangement carried out at unusual height, and the best example of it in eastern Bohemia. It passed to the Colloredo-Mansfeld family in 1636 and stayed with them, which is why the collections are what they are: a large armoury with European and Oriental weapons, a picture gallery with Italian and Dutch work, and an ethnographic collection of American material brought back by Josef Colloredo-Mansfeld from travels in the nineteenth century, which is one of the older such collections in the country. The park behind drops in terraces to a lake with a Chinese pavilion. Restitution of the castle was contested in the courts for years, which delayed opening more than once.

What you actually see

• Three storeys of arcades - an unusually tall Renaissance courtyard of the 1560s.
• A large armoury - European and Oriental weapons across several rooms.
• An American ethnographic collection - gathered on nineteenth-century travels.
• A terraced park - dropping to a lake with a Chinese pavilion.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only, seasonal, with routes that vary. Ownership disputes have closed it in the past - check it is open before travelling. The town is small.

Nearby

Hradec Kralove is south-west; the Orlicke hory rise east.