Cyril and Methodius Route – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe

Kroměříž - Kvasice

The Archbishop’s Chateau

Formerly the summer residence of the Archbishops of Olomouc with a picture gallery and extensive library, a UNESCO monument. The Assembly Hall is often described as one of the most beautiful rococo interiors in the Czech Republic, for example the film Amadeus by Miloš Forman was filmed here. The Archbishop’s Chateau in Kroměříž is a dominant feature of the town. Its origins and development are linked to the history of the Olomouc bishopric and the archbishopric and subject community of the Olomouc bishops, which was elevated to a town in the 13th century. The original chateau and the later chateau were the residence of the bishops of Olomouc and the seat of their manorial organisation. The current appearance of the building dates from 1664-1695, when the Chateau was rebuilt under Bishop Karl Lichtenstein-Castelcorn after the Thirty Years’ War, according to the designs of architects Filiberto Luchese and Pietro Giovanni Tencalla.

The furnishings and interior decoration date back to the second half of the 18th century. The gallery is also of great importance, presenting works by European painters of the 15th-18th centuries (Veronese, van Dyck, Hans von Aachen, Cranach st.). You will be particularly captivated by the most important painting in the chateau gallery, Tiziano Vecelli’s Apollo and Marsyas. The chateau’s library, which contains 88,000 volumes, and the music archive with more than 6,000 Baroque compositions are very well known. The representative and living areas of Kromeriz Chateau are among the most valuable chateau interiors in Central Europe. Currently, the gardens and the chateau complex are accessible via several sightseeing tours. The Archdiocesan Museum Kroměříž manages the so-called cabinets, which thematically represent individual areas of the archbishop’s collections. In addition to the professional management of the collections, the museum also prepares short-term exhibition projects.

Visitor tours

Representative halls
The visitor tour will take you to the most beautiful and captivating halls and chambers of the castle with rare art collections. During the tour you will also see parts of the collections that are among the rarest and most valuable to be found in the Czech Republic. The representation halls offer the archbishop’s and prince’s interiors of the first and second floor of the castle. The tour includes the Hunting and Throne Rooms, the Imperial and Rose Rooms, the magnificent Assembly Hall and the Summer Apartment – the private rooms of the Archbishop’s former summer apartment. You will also visit the Manx Hall with its extraordinary painted decorations, the famous historical library with nearly 90,000 volumes of rare books, and the Music Hall presenting rare manuscripts by many composers.

The chateau picture gallery
The picture collection of the Archbishopric of Olomouc, housed for the most part in the Chateau Picture Gallery of Kroměříž Chateau, represents, after the National Gallery in Prague, the second most important and largest collection of Central European paintings from the beginning of the 15th to the end of the 18th century in the Czech Republic. In the chateau gallery itself you can see 85 selected original works by important European painters from the Gothic to the Rococo period, including Titian, van Dyck, L. Cranach st.

Hall of Terrena
Sala terrena – a hall with an entrance to the gardens. An open, representatively decorated building with imitations of caves (grottoes) is characteristic of the more important Baroque and Rococo palaces. The Sala Terrena stands out for its paintings and sculptures depicting scenes from ancient mythology, including two smaller artificial caves. The Sala Terrena served as a unique connection between the castle residence and the Chateau Garden. It retains its original appearance and beautiful stucco decoration with wall frescoes from the late 17th century. The three richly decorated halls, which represent the changing seasons, are linked by two artificial caves, the first of which charmingly tells the story of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the second recalls the tradition of medieval mining of precious minerals in the vicinity, which were used to mint the archbishop’s coins in the castle mint.

Via Residentia
Representation Halls + Castle Tower
You will get a comprehensive picture of the uniqueness of the Kromeriz residence of the Olomouc princely bishops and archbishops. You will visit the representative halls of the castle, including the Tsar’s Room and the Chamber of Deputies.

The chateau tower
The chateau tower offers a unique view of the historic centre of Kroměříž and the wider surroundings from the 84-metre-high dominating tower of the chateau. Its floors hide the earliest stages of the development of the castle complex, and the tour is enriched with thematic exhibitions. Wonderful views of the whole town and the distant surroundings. The tower is accessible independently, without a guide, the ascent takes about 20 minutes (206 steps).

The Chateau Garden
The Chateau Garden was founded after 1509 and has been rebuilt in successive historical styles over several centuries. In the Classical period, around 1850-1855, it grew in the fashionable English landscape tradition of the time to an impressive 64 hectares with many rare trees.

Source: www.kudyznudy.cz

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