Vranov nad Dyji Chateau

Vranov stands on a rock high above a bend of the Dyje and was rebuilt from 1687 for the Althann family by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, at the start of his career, after a fire destroyed the medieval castle. His Hall of Ancestors is the reason to come: a tall oval room projecting from the rock face, with a dome frescoed by Johann Michael Rottmayr and statues of the family's forebears in niches, arranged so the room reads as a dynastic argument, and it is one of the finest baroque interiors in Moravia. There is a chapel by the same architect. Later owners, the Mniszek family, added a ceramics factory whose products are shown. The chateau appears above the Vranov reservoir in every photograph of the lake, and the Podyji national park begins downstream. The village below is a summer resort.

History

Cosmas of Prague first mentions Vranov in 1100 as a border castle, built by the dukes of Bohemia to defend the southern edge of Moravia against raids from the Austrian March. It stayed royal until 1323, when King John pawned it to Jindřich of Lipá; in 1421 the Lichtenburg family took control of the castle and market town, King Vladislaus II granted it to them as a hereditary possession in 1499, and they held it until 1516. In the 16th century it changed hands often, passing through the Lords of Boskovice, the Pernštejns, the Lords of Lomnice, the Kraigers of Krajk and the Dietrichsteins. Wolf Dietrich of Althann bought it in 1614, lost it seven years later for his part in the rebellion of the Bohemian Estates, and it was sold to Johann Ernst of Scherfenberg; Michael Johann II Althann recovered it in 1680 and commissioned Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to design the Hall of the Ancestors, an oval hall under a great cupola built between 1687 and 1695, with statues of the ancestors by Tobias Kracker and a glorification of the family painted in the dome by Johann Michael Rottmayr, and a Baroque chapel of the Holy Trinity with the family vault. In 1799 the castle passed to Count Stanislaw Mniszech (1774-1846), then by inheritance to the Stadnicki family, and later to the von der Wense family from Brunswick-Lüneburg (Wikipedia, Vranov nad Dyjí Castle).

What's there

• The Hall of Ancestors - an oval room with a Rottmayr dome and family statues.
• Fischer von Erlach's early work - the rebuilding begun in 1687 after a fire.
• A crag above the Dyje - the position that makes the silhouette.
• Mniszek ceramics - the estate factory's products shown in the house.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Before you go

Guided tours only, seasonal, with separate routes for the hall and the ceramics. Closed Mondays. The village is a busy resort in July and August. Photography inside is restricted.

Nearby

Bitov castle is upstream; Podyji National Park begins below the dam.

Key facts