Město Nové Hrady - Oficiální internetové stránky

The Castle

            The gothic castle in Nové Hrady was established on a rocky crag with a massive moat. It was a border fort, built to protect the road from Bohemia to Austria. Its first known owner was Ojíř ze Svin (1279). Other well-known owners included the Rosenberg family, a distinguished South Bohemian noble family which managed to wrench it from vassalage in 1491. The castle was burned with the rest of the city during the Hussite wars, and another catastrophe came in 1573, when an explosion ravaged the castle after lightning hit the large round tower in which a great store of gunpowder was hidden. An earthquake in 1590 caused further damage. The castle was soundly repaired under Peter Vok von Rosenberg. After the decease of the Rosenberg family, their estates were inherited by the Schwambergs. The castle was besieged and conquered during the troubled times of the Thirty-Year War by Karl Bonaventura Graf von Buquoy, who received it together with the city as amends for service in war. He started at once with repairs, and the castle was quickly renovated to its current baroque state. It was no longer occupied by the gentry, but served instead as a seat of the county forestry administration and contained apartments for civil servants. One of the more famous inhabitants to be born there was physician and professor of the Vienna University, Johann Oppolzer.

            The castle has an oval disposition plan with a section of the old 15^th century fortifications, closed by gates on both sides. The eastern rectangular tower is preserved as well as the north and west wing. The renovated castle now houses an art gallery, collection of family portraits, an exposition of antique Empire furniture, hunting weapons, trophies and an extensive collection of unique black Hyalite glass.