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From left to right: the castle in an old photograph; the coat of arms of the Smiřický family in several versions, including one from Siebmacher's armorial; a page from that armorial with the arms of Bohemian noble families, among them the Smiřickýs, the Trčkas and the Sternbergs.
Smiřice Castle today; on the left, the tower of the Chapel of the Three Kings.
Smiřice Castle was built on the river Elbe, which at the time of construction split into three large arms. Between two of these arms stood a medieval fortress, first mentioned in 1392. In the 15th century the moated stronghold was converted into a castle. The nearby settlement of Smiřice was granted town rights in 1659.
The castle on the Elbe in an old print.
The Smiřický family of Smiřice (1405–1476)
The Smiřický family of Smiřice (1405–1476)
The Smiřický family of Smiřice is closely linked to the history of the town. The family, which took its name from the place, acquired Smiřice and neighbouring Čibuz in 1405 and held it until 1476. Its founder was probably Václav of Smiřice. His son Jan Smiřický was a Hussite leader and captain of the Boleslav region. Through his political skill he gained great power and wealth, and he sat on the council of the regent George of Poděbrady, the later Hussite king. In his final years he sided with the Catholics. In 1453 he was accused of treason in Prague and sentenced to death, and on 7 September 1453 Jan Smiřický of Smiřice was beheaded in the Prague market square. He had already handed Smiřice over to his nephews, the brothers Jan and Hynek Smiřický. When they too died without heirs, by 1476 at the latest, the castle passed to a succession of different owners. (Markéta Smiřická of Smiřice was the mother of Albrecht von Wallenstein, commander-in-chief of the imperial forces during the Thirty Years' War.)
The Trčkas of Lípa (1498–1636)
The Trčkas of Lípa (1498–1636)
In 1498 Nicholas II Trčka of Lípa (†1516) acquired Smiřice. Since the Hussite Wars the Trčkas of Lípa had been among the most prominent noble families in Bohemia, and in the late 16th and early 17th centuries they owned large estates in eastern and central Bohemia. Nicholas bought the estate in shares in June 1498 from the heirs of Valečov and their husbands. At the time it comprised 17 villages, and he paid 6,000 threescores (kopy) of Prague groschen for it. In 1507 he had his second wife, Catherine of Šelmberk, walled up alive and starved to death for adultery, and then had her lover, the servant Zdeněk Šanovec, killed as well. It is said that he never smiled again. He died childless. Smiřice remained in the hands of the Trčka family. Vilém Trčka of Lípa (†1569) had a stone school and an almshouse built in the nearby village of Holohlavy; his widow, Barbara of Bibrštejn, who inherited the estate, paid for children from the poorest families and orphans of the estate to attend the school. By 1588 the Smiřice estate comprised 42 villages.
Pictured: the execution of the Bohemian rebels on the Old Town Square in Prague, 21 June 1621.
Left: a portrait from the Trčka of Lípa family and the thaler of Burian Trčka of Lípa from 1588 (National Museum, Prague); right: the map of Moravia from Gerard Mercator's atlas.
Wallenstein and the confiscation (1634)
Wallenstein and the confiscation (1634)
When Count Adam Erdmann Trčka was murdered in Eger (Cheb) in 1634 together with his brother-in-law Albrecht von Wallenstein, his father Jan Rudolf Trčka of Lípa inherited the property. Jan Rudolf died on 29 September 1634 in Německý Brod (today Havlíčkův Brod). He was probably buried next to his late wife in the church at Světlá, as he had requested in his will. Only a year after his death a trial was held against him and his late wife, which led Emperor Ferdinand II to confiscate all their possessions. The will of the last Trčka, who had left his estates to friends, was never carried out.
Adam Erdmann Trčka of Lípa (1599–1634), owner of the castle, was an imperial field marshal during the Thirty Years' War and a supporter of Wallenstein.
In the fight against the Swedish and Saxon troops in Silesia, Wallenstein did not act decisively enough for the liking of Emperor Ferdinand II. He also failed to repel a Swedish invasion of Bavaria. Moreover, Wallenstein had begun talks with the Swedes, incidentally with the emperor's knowledge, to explore on what terms peace might be concluded. Slanderers managed to present the situation in such a way that the emperor came to believe Wallenstein was plotting treason. Whether that was really the case has never been definitively established.
Pictured: above, the murder of Adam Erdmann Trčka and other officers of Wallenstein in Eger (Cheb), 25 February 1634; below, Smiřice Castle in a 19th-century lithograph.
In any case, the emperor grew tired of this general, who had become all too powerful through his many military successes. In 1634 Wallenstein and Adam Erdmann Trčka of Lípa were murdered by some of his own officers in the Bohemian border town of Eger, on the emperor's orders. By decree, Emperor Ferdinand II had expressly excluded Adam Erdmann from imperial pardon because he was an ally of Wallenstein.
Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1619 until his death, as well as King of Bohemia and Hungary. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. His parents were devout Catholics and in 1590 sent him to the Jesuit college in Ingolstadt to keep him away from the Lutheran nobility. In July of that year, when Ferdinand was twelve, his father died and he inherited Inner Austria: Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and several smaller territories. His cousin, the childless Emperor Rudolf II, head of the House of Habsburg, appointed regents to govern these lands.
Pictured: Emperor Ferdinand II, engraving.
The Gallas family (1636–1685)
The Gallas family (1636–1685)
On 12 April 1636 Emperor Ferdinand II gave the lordship of Smiřice, with the town and the castle, to Johann Matthias Gallas as a reward for his services. It also included the estates of Žiželeves, Rodov, Hořiněves and Sadová and their villages. Gallas came from a family of the lesser nobility of Giudicarie in Trentino, which held the castle of Campo as a fief of the prince-bishops of Trento. His father, Pancrazio di Gallasso, died on 22 July 1612 after 35 years of military service, as an imperial major general in Tyrol. Gallas was married to Anna Maria Dorothea, Countess of Lodron, daughter of Philipp Jakob, Count of Lodron, and Victoria, Countess of Collalto and San Salvatore. His grandson was Johann Wenzel von Gallas (1669–1719), Viceroy of Naples. After Gallas informed the emperor of Wallenstein's secret negotiations with the Swedes, the emperor promoted him to lieutenant general. Gallas died in 1647. In 1661 his two sons divided the estates: Antonín Pankrác received Smiřice and had the castle remodelled in the early Baroque style.
Pictured: Johann Matthias Gallas, contemporary portrait (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna), and the Battle of Záblatí in 1619, engraving by Hogenberg.
The imperial castle and small town of Smiřice, drawn in 1818 and painted in 1823.
Bartholomeus Strobel the Younger, The Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist (1630–1633, Museo del Prado, Madrid). On the left of the canvas the painter portrayed contemporaries, among them Emperor Ferdinand II and Wallenstein.
The Sternbergs and the Paars (1685–1780)
The Sternbergs and the Paars (1685–1780)
On 1 October 1685 Antonín Pankrác Gallas sold the lordship for 350,000 guilders to Isabella Magdalena of Sternberg (née de Portia), the widow of a Count of Sternberg. Members of the Sternberg family had held important royal offices since the 13th century; they helped shape the cultural development of Bohemia and acted as patrons of scholars and artists. After her death in 1687 her son, Count Jan Josef of Sternberg, inherited the estate, and in his time the farm buildings next to the castle were built.
The Sternbergs are one of the oldest noble families in the country and were active in Czech political and cultural history. Through the marriage of Jan Josef's daughter Maria Theresia Violanta of Sternberg to Johann Leopold von Paar, the castle passed to the Paar family in 1715. She later married Jan Daniel, Count of Gastheim, and died at Smiřice Castle on 29 March 1761, aged 61. She completed the chapel her father had begun. After her death the castle passed to her son Johann Wenzel (Václav Josef) von Paar. He was imperial postmaster general, was raised to the rank of prince in 1769 and was a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he had already received as a child prodigy at his Vienna palace in 1762.
Pictured: the coat of arms of the Sternberg family.
Left: Johann Wenzel, Prince von Paar, engraving by Löschenkohl (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). Top right: Johann Leopold von Paar and Maria Theresia Violanta of Sternberg. Bottom right: a coat of arms with the double-headed eagle and an old plan of Smiřice.
Imperial property (1780–1863)
Imperial property (1780–1863)
Von Paar sold Smiřice to Emperor Joseph II in 1780. The emperor bought the estate because he wanted to build a new fortress against Prussia in the area. Joseph II was born in Vienna on 13 March 1741, the eldest son and fourth child of Maria Theresa and her husband Francis Stephen of Lorraine, later Emperor Francis I. On 6 October 1760 he married Princess Isabella of Bourbon-Parma (1741–1763) in Vienna. On 27 March 1764 he was elected King of the Romans in Frankfurt am Main and crowned on 3 April 1764. On 23 January 1765 he married Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria (1739–1767) at Schönbrunn. Later that year, after his father's death, he became Holy Roman Emperor. His motto was Virtute et exemplo (by virtue and example). Joseph II was the most widely travelled ruler of his time.
From 1766 Hradec Králové was fortified to defend the northern border of the empire, while the defence of Moravia was entrusted to Olomouc, reinforced with strong forts. Between 1781 and 1787 Joseph II had a new fortress built near the village of Ples, close to Jaroměř, which was later named Josefov. The emperor personally oversaw the construction and stayed at Smiřice Castle during this period, where he also had a number of modernisations carried out.
The castle later served as a hospital and then as the seat of the imperial estate administration, where officials also lived. The lordship remained crown property until 1863.
The emperor often travelled incognito through his empire under the name Count von Falkenstein.
Pictured: Emperor Joseph II.
Left: the coronation banquet of Joseph II in Frankfurt, 1764 (Martin van Meytens). Right: Joseph II as 'Count von Falkenstein'.
Left: the peoples of Austria-Hungary on a historical map. Right: the coat of arms of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
The Liebieg family (1863–1881)
The Liebieg family (1863–1881)
In 1863 the Smiřice estate, including the castle, was bought at public auction by Johann Liebieg, an industrialist from Reichenberg (Liberec), who had the castle modernised. Eighteen years later the estate was sold back to the imperial estate administration. Johann Liebieg was born on 7 June 1802 in Braunau (Broumov). After a stroke in 1868 he was bedridden, and on 16 July 1870 he died in his castle at Smiřice. He was a Bohemian textile manufacturer and industrialist. In 1867 Emperor Franz Joseph awarded him the Order of the Iron Crown, which carried the hereditary title of baron (Freiherr). As his motto he chose Per laborem ad honorem (through work to honour). With his elder brother Franz Liebieg (1799–1878) he started a weaving business. In 1828 the brothers bought a red-yarn dye works in Reichenberg, founded in 1806 by Count Christian Christoph Clam-Gallas. Thanks to the successful production of a wide range of fabrics, the company became one of the most important textile manufacturers in the Austrian Empire. For his 6,300 workers and employees Liebieg set up many welfare facilities: a relief fund, bakeries, canteens, schools, a crèche and a housing estate, costing up to 20,000 guilders a year. In 1864 he built a steam mill in Smiřice, and in 1867 he founded a sugar factory and a brewery there. From 1866 his sons Johann and Heinrich Theodor and his son-in-law Josef von Mallmann were partners in the firm Johann Liebieg & Co.
Pictured: Johann Liebieg, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1859, and the Liebieg family with a carriage in front of the castle.
A young Liebieg on horseback at the castle gate.
His son Franz (1827–1886) was a textile manufacturer and bank director, and a member of the Bohemian Diet and the Imperial Council. When the textile industry fell into crisis in the early 1880s, the family sold part of its possessions: in 1881 Smiřice returned to the imperial estate administration. In this way the castle came into the hands of the imperial Habsburg family fund, which held it until 1918.
Theodor, Baron von Liebieg (1872–1939), was a keen motoring enthusiast. He visited Karl Benz in Mannheim and was one of the first to buy a Benz Victoria (serial number 76, built in 1893).
Pictured: Theodor von Liebieg (left) with Carl Benz in Mannheim, 1895.
Plan of the water supply for the new castle park, designed by the German landscape architect Eduard Petzold (1868).
Archduke Charles during his visit to Smiřice in 1911. From left: unknown, castellan Voltr, Archduke Charles, two unknown men and councillor Cehetmaier of Smiřice. Photo courtesy of Zdeněk Vorl, Varnsdorf.
Smiřice from the air, April 1932: the castle and the Chapel of the Three Kings lie on the right, by the river Elbe.
The great hall in the days of the agricultural school (rolnická škola): display cases with teaching material such as horseshoes, anatomical models and animal skeletons (left), and a collection of cereals and crops with wall charts (right).
After 1918
After 1918
With the proclamation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the castle was expropriated in the land reform and became state property. Until 1953 it housed an agricultural school; it then became the seat of the State Farms (Státní statky) directorate in Smiřice. At the end of 2012 the castle was sold to a private owner, who has been renovating it since 2013.
Pictured left: the great hall of the castle in the days when it housed a school. Right: a group in front of the castle in the same period, with the tower of the Chapel of the Three Kings.
The Chapel of the Three Kings
The Chapel of the Three Kings
The foundation stone of the Chapel of the Three Kings (the Epiphany) in Smiřice was laid in 1699. Its builder, Count Jan Josef of Sternberg (1671–1700), dedicated it to the Adoration of the Magi. Construction was interrupted in 1700 by the tragic death of the young owners, Jan Josef and Marie Violanta of Sternberg, who drowned in the river Inn in Bavaria. Their one-year-old daughter Maria Theresia Violanta was left an orphan on the Smiřice estate. Thanks to her great-uncle Václav Vojtěch of Sternberg, who managed the estate on her behalf, building resumed on 19 May 1705. Baptisms were already held in the chapel in 1711, and it was consecrated two years later.
The pope also heard about the construction of this monumental chapel. Pope Benedict XIV invited Maria Theresia Violanta to Rome and, as a token of appreciation, gave her a painting of the Madonna on a wooden panel. She had it decorated in Venice with pearls, gold and Bohemian garnets and placed it in the chapel in 1747. The Smiřice Madonna hung above the altar for more than 200 years and was then restored and kept in a depository. It survived both world wars; today only a replica can be seen in the chapel.
Built between 1699 and 1711, the chapel is most likely the work of the architect Christoph Dientzenhofer, although some sources attribute it to Jan Blažej Santini. Its elongated octagonal plan with alternating concave and convex walls makes it one of the most valued Baroque buildings in the region, and its interior has remained almost unchanged since completion. The frescoes by Jan Jakub Steinfels depict Old Testament prophets and sibyls, the Creation, and the arrival of the Magi. The life-size statues of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne on the high altar are by F. J. Pacák, a pupil of the sculptor M. B. Braun. Thanks to its excellent acoustics, the chapel is also used for concerts.
The chapel has been a national cultural monument since 1995. Maria Theresia Violanta commissioned works for it from the renowned Baroque painter Petr Brandl: a painting of Saint Blaise (around 1713) and, in 1727, the Adoration of the Magi for the high altar, for which she paid him 1,700 guilders. According to tradition, Brandl included the countess herself in the scene, wearing a red hat. The altarpiece has also been a national cultural monument since 2006.
The castle and the Chapel of the Three Kings on the Elbe, around 1863.
The castle
The castle
The castle has two storeys and four wings around a rectangular courtyard, under hipped roofs covered with slate. It grew out of a 14th-century Gothic fortified manor, whose thick walls survive in almost every wing, and was rebuilt in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. On the south side the former gate tower projects forward with an early Baroque portal, and arcades on piers run around the courtyard on the ground floor and the upper floors. On the west side a corridor wing leads to the Chapel of the Three Kings; the interior was altered around 1800 and in the 19th century.
The two round pools in the park were probably laid out in the time of the Liebieg family, the cast-iron fence in that of the Habsburgs. Between the two world wars the Elbe was straightened, so the castle no longer stands like an island between the river branches. The castle is a protected cultural monument (register number 700/1).
Read more in the architectural history of the castle, with plans of every floor.
The castle's record card in the Czech register of cultural monuments (no. 700): “Castle with chapel and statues in front of the castle”.
Today
Today
Today Smiřice Castle has entered a new era. The town uses the beautiful estate for cultural projects, and performances are regularly held in the large courtyard. The castle also serves as a setting for fine antiques. Jindřich Karásek says: “Our company was founded in 2006 as a real estate company specialising in historic buildings. One of our first investments was Stračov Castle, which we chose as our base and where we began an extensive restoration, which was not easy. We wanted to furnish the interior with antique furniture suited to the castle, so we gradually began searching for it in the Czech Republic and abroad. Antique furniture and interior design have since become our passion. We are members of the Antique Dealers Association and of the Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Œuvres d'Art (CINOA).”
See also the restoration of the castle.
Pictured: the castle in winter, seen from the entrance gate.
The artist Peter Weidenbaum, the current owner of the castle, has been working since 2004 on a series of works about the Czech landscape. His studio is also located in the castle. Thanks to its many activities, Smiřice Castle is assured of a future with a nod to its rich past.
www.weidenbaum.be
Pictured: Peter Weidenbaum's studio in the castle.
The Chapel of the Three Kings at night and the arcaded castle courtyard.
A concert in the castle courtyard and the emblem of Zámek Smiřice.
Sources: August Sedláček, Hrady, zámky a tvrze České; Martin Ebel and Ladislav Svoboda, Zámek čp. 1 ve Smiřicích – stavebně historický průzkum (building-historical survey, Pardubice, 2003); Miroslav Volák, history of Smiřice for the town website; Czech register of cultural monuments (monument no. 700/1); www.smirice.eu (Přemek Andrýs) and Martin Kareš; Wikipedia (Dutch, English, German and Czech).
Images: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (portrait of Gallas); Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (engraving of Johann Wenzel von Paar); National Museum, Prague (thaler of Burian Trčka); Museo del Prado, Madrid (painting by Strobel); Státní okresní archiv Liberec (Liebieg family photographs, via Martin Kareš); Zdeněk Vorl, Varnsdorf (photograph of 1911).
Design and text: Pieter Willemen
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