Tag Archives: Ignác František Platzer

Lnáře Chateau Diary

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I hadn’t been to Lnáře for 13 years. This time a friend drove me there. We had lunch in a local restaurant, where three cats begged for food when not basking in the summer sun. I fed the black cat some macaroni. I love black cats. I’ve had two of them. I think they are good luck, and it is a shame they are least likely to be adopted.

The two-storey Baroque Lnáře Chateau hailed from the 17th century and has four wings as well as an elegant courtyard with arcades. It is situated in an area of south Bohemia dotted with numerous ponds. The chateau has had 17 owners. I found the 20th century information to be the most intriguing. In 1936 Prague lawyer Jindřich Vaníček bought it from Karel Bondy. During the Second World War, the Hitlerjugend occupied the chateau. At the end of the war, American troops stayed there. The first group of Americans to reside there was very well-behaved. However, when they left a second group of Americans came to Lnáře. These Americans were rambunctious, wild; bullet holes in the chateau walls attest to their despicable behavior. On the tour I would read information about the Americans’ time in Lnáře.

Information about the American troops arriving in the town

This chateau is also known as the place where Soviet General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov capitulated. Vlasov’s military career was unique, to say the least. He made a name for himself fighting for the Soviets in the Battle of Moscow. Then, trying to thwart the siege of Leningrad, he was captured by the Nazis and switched sides, fighting for the Nazis. Thousands of bulletins showing his picture were circulated, as the Soviets were eager to capture him. With the Germans, he formed the Russian Liberation Army. At the end of the war, he changed his allegiance again, when the Russian Liberation Army was ordered to aid the Prague Uprising that pitted Czechs against Germans. The Soviets captured him while he was trying to escape to the West. He was hanged for treason.

After the war, the chateau was returned to Vaníček, but he didn’t have it for long. The Communists took it away from him, and in 1948 the chateau was nationalized. Lnáře was in decrepit condition until 1972, when repairs got underway. In 1985 it became a recreational center for high-ranking Communists. It was returned to Vaníček’s descendants in 1992 and remains family property.

Arriving at the chateau, we walked across a stone bridge with six statues of saints from the 18th century. In the courtyard, my friend took my picture in front of a 17th century fountain of Neptune.

Soon it was time for the tour. The stunning statues on the staircase of the main hall were the work of master Czech and Austrian sculptor Ignác František Platzer, who had been considered the best in his field during the second half of the 18th century. He created sculptures in late Baroque style and later worked with classicist forms. Whenever I thought of Ignác František Platzer, the two statues of the Battle of the Titans at the entrance gate of Prague Castle came to mind.

However, that was by no means his only claim to fame in Prague: the Archbishop’s Palace near Prague Castle and Kinský Palace in the Old Town were just two more examples of his many contributions to the Prague art scene. I knew his sculpture also graced Dobříš Chateau and Teplá Monastery, two sights I had visited years earlier. I also was a big fan of the Church of Saint James in the Old Town, another structure that featured his statues.

Two of my favorite artists had added to the decoration there – Baroque painter Petr Brandl and Czech Secession sculptor František Bílek. Statues of Greek gods and goddesses were the work of Ignác Michal Platzer, the son of Ignác František.

I was entranced by the many wall and ceiling frescoes as well as the stucco decoration. Many frescoes featured mythological themes. The Main Hall was one of the highlights of the interior with its frescoes and stucco adornment. Weddings often took place in the chateau. We saw a luxurious room for the bride and groom. Rooms for other guests were also available.

Another highlight was the early Baroque Chapel of Saint Joseph, which dated from 1654. The choir’s stucco and painting decoration hailed from around 1660 as did the main altar that was flanked by Saint Wenceslas and Saint Ludmila. In the nave I saw more frescoes – these portrayed scenes from the life of Saint Joseph and illustrated figures in the Old Testament.

We were excited to visit the Cat Museum, too. Figures of cats, paintings, drawings and coat-of-arms of towns symbolized by cats were some of the highlights. I especially liked the two-meter high copy of an Egyptian goddess represented by a cat and the cheerful painting of a cat by František Pon, a pseudonym for a married couple who designed books and paintings featuring felines. A shoe cleaner with a brush on the back of a cat figure was a unique item.

I liked the fact that my favorite Czech author, Bohumil Hrabal, was mentioned in the description about cats and literature. He had taken care of many cats and had written about them. I thought back to my visits to the U zlatého tygra pub in the 1990s. Hrabal would always order me fried schnitzel because that was what Bill Clinton ate when he had come to meet the legendary Czech writer. Then Hrabal would pour some of his beer over my schnitzel.

Overall, it was an excellent outing, and I was cheerful despite the pandemic riddling the world when I returned to Prague.

Tracy A. Burns is a writer, proofreader and editor in Prague.

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Peruc Chateau Diary

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NOTE: No photography was allowed inside the chateau.

I was so excited to be visiting a chateau I had never seen before. Peruc Chateau had just opened to the public on July 1, 2020 after lengthy reconstruction. Now it was mid-August. I was entranced by the blue Rococo façade.

In the late 16th century, the Lobkowicz clan that owned Peruc turned the Gothic fortress there into a Renaissance chateau. After that, owners came and went. In 1673 Jan Jetřich of Ledebur purchased what was then a ruin, and the property remained in his family for more than 100 years. During the late 18th century, they transformed it into a Rococo chateau.

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František Palacký, photo from Vždy Nahoře

In 1814, it became the property of František Antonín Thun-Hohenstein. During the 19th century, famous Czech historian, politician and writer František Palacký, nicknamed the Father of the Nation, frequented the chateau. I had always admired Palacký not only for his contributions to modern Czech history studies but also because he spoke 11 languages. Poet, prose writer, reporter and world traveler Svatopluk Čech spent much of his childhood in Peruc. He would go on to write one of the main science fiction books in Czech literature.

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History of the Czech Nation by František Palacký, photo from Databáze knih

During World War II, the chateau was used as a depository for Leipzig University library, and the collection was transformed back to Germany in 1954. The chateau remained the property of the Thun-Hohenstein clan until 1945, when, according to the Beneš decrees, it was nationalized. Cubist painter, graphic artist and sculptor Emil Filla lived there in the late 1940s and early 1950s, composing mostly landscapes of Czech mountains. During World War II he had spent time in Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, where he wrote theoretical essays and poems.

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Svatopluk Čech, photo from Knižnice

In the 1950s, part of the chateau was used as a nursery school. During the 1960s, a prehistory exhibition of the National Museum was set up as was an exhibition to Svatopluk Čech. The town was also associated with a romantic story about Oldřich and Božena’s fateful meeting. During 1964 the chateau became a cultural monument. However, the building became dilapidated and soon was nothing more than a ruin.

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Svatopluk Čech’s sci-fi masterpiece, photo from Databáze knih

The district was given the chateau after the 1989 Revolution, and they sold it, but it remained in a decrepit state. Finally, in 2015 a new owner came along and had the restoration done. The same person owned Dětenice Chateau, another favorite of mine. Now the chateau looked majestic and lavish, but, while on the tour, I would see pictures of the horrible condition before reconstruction.

Before the tour, I discovered that there were only dry toilets outside, with a hole in the ground instead of a flushing mechanism. I hadn’t used a dry toilet since visiting Kokořin Castle so many years ago.

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Soon it was time for the tour. First, we walked up a statue-flanked staircase, where I saw sculpture representing allegories of architecture, construction and sculpture, for instance. They had been created by the workshop of Ignác František Platzer, the principle sculptor of the 18th century. The statue at the top of the staircase hailed from the 16th c. A stunning tapestry with a religious theme hung behind the monumental staircase.

Throughout the tour, I would be in awe of the many masterful religious paintings, including Madonnas and scenes from the Old Testament. The Břeclav Madonna was my favorite. Its gold background gave it a majestic appearance, and the semi-precious stone on one finger of the Madonna was a stunning feature.

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The tiled stoves, mostly in Classicist style, were another delight. The one that I liked best was thin, about one-third of the width of a typical tiled stove in a chateau. It was white and sleek. I was drawn to it because it looked modern, and its design was simple rather than lavish.

Large portraits of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Empress Maria Theresa and Josef II could be found throughout the chateau. I especially liked one likeness of Josef II in which one of his hands seemed to stick out of the painting as if it were three-dimensional.

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Some of the ceilings were beautiful. Several painted ceilings represented the Renaissance style while another depicted a blue sky. The Czech crystal chandeliers also made a notable impression. Large Florentine mirrors wish lavish gold frames captured my undivided attention, too.

I was particularly drawn to a black jewel chest with wine red drawers, made of ebony and ivory. A colored painting of a figure with a parasol and other people in what appeared to be a forest was the subject of a partition. Currently, the Blue Salon is being renovated. Its blue decoration is stunning. I noticed a blue castle on one wall.

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I stopped by the nearby Museum of Czech Village Life twice, but it was not open. After seeing the chateau, we were famished. We didn’t fancy anything at the outdoor grill on the chateau grounds, so we got in the car, found a restaurant on the Internet and drove there with GPS. The navigation tool led us to an abandoned farmhouse in Slavětin. The only restaurant in the town didn’t open for almost four hours.

We went through many villages, and there weren’t restaurants in any of them. A lot of restaurants in villages had closed down due to the coronavirus lockdown, when they lost so much money because they weren’t allowed to be open.

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The main staircase of the chateau

We came to a village where a friend of my friend lived, and my friend called her for advice. She mentioned that a village called Klanovice had a superb restaurant. We found Klanovice, but only saw a dirty bar where there was little choice of food. That surely wasn’t the right restaurant. We went back through the village several times and finally turned into a place where people could ride horses. To one side was an impressive-looking restaurant. The food was excellent, the atmosphere charming and rustic.

From there we found our way back to Prague. I was glad I had – after such a long time – been introduced to a new chateau and certainly would recommend it to my friends.

Tracy A. Burns is a writer, proofreader and editor in Prague.

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Chandelier above main staircase