CASTLE HISTORY

The history of the castle dates back deep centuries to the year 1710 when a baroque two-story castle with a Marian chapel was built on the site of the former fortress. The castle gradually passed through several owners under whom it deteriorated, until in 1861, the dilapidated building passed into the ownership of the Modena Duke Francis V d’Este, who had it renovated and expanded. The castle complex included the castle itself, the Marian chapel, a school, brewery, and mill.

In 1875, along with other properties, twelve-year-old Francis Ferdinand d’Este inherited the castle from his uncle. The property was managed by his father, Archduke Charles Louis d’Este, under whose guidance the castle acquired its current appearance. In 1876, the last remnants of the old castle were demolished, and above the main entrance, the archducal coat of arms and below it, a fresco of St. Procopius were placed.

 After the Sarajevo assassination, Ferdinand’s daughter Sophie, along with her younger brothers Maximilian and Ernst, sought refuge at the family castle of Konopiště, where they spent the First World War together. Although Ferdinand’s children belonged to the Hohenberg family, Czechoslovak authorities treated them the same as the Habsburgs, and on May 3, 1919, both the Konopiště estate and the archducal estate in Chlum near Třeboň were placed under forced administration by the Ministry of Agriculture with the aim of including both estates in nationalization.

The resolution of the parliament, based on Article 208 of the peace treaty of the victorious powers, was crucial for the further fate of Ferdinand’s children. According to it, all Habsburg property belonged to the newly formed states. Czechoslovakia then exploited the loose interpretation of the treaty and implemented its extreme form. After a heated debate in parliament, a law was passed that classified Hohenberg children as Habsburgs, allowing their property to be confiscated. 

In the late twenties and early thirties, Chlum became a fashionable resort. During this time, the castle hosted composers, writers, and artists such as Oskar Nedbal, Vítězslav Novák, Antonín Sova, K. M. Čapek-Chod, Gabriela Preissová, and at the end of the 1930s, for the first time, František Hrubín. The castle was mainly used by the state administration for the recreation of Foreign Ministry employees and government officials. In 1929, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Edvard Beneš, occupied a seven-room apartment in the castle for four weeks. 

After the Second World War, the castle served as a storage facility for the German Air Force. The castle complex became German confiscated property and was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture. The State Farm Administration was established on the estate, and the castle building was converted into the headquarters of a glassworks, which established offices on the second floor.

 The ground floor of the castle housed a kindergarten and a public municipal library. From 1945 to 1953, several classes of the primary school were temporarily located in the castle. The ground floor of the castle also housed a unit of the State Security Corps. As the local glassworks could not afford the maintenance of the castle, it was sold in 1969 for a symbolic price of 1 Kčs to the national enterprise Spolana Neratovice, which renovated the castle and converted it into its recreational center.

Along with the castle renovation, the castle park was also reconstructed. On May 1, 1992, the National Property Fund of the Czech Republic established the joint-stock company SPOLANA, which took over the assets of the former state enterprise, including the company’s recreational center at the Chlum Castle near Třeboň.

In 2008, the main shareholder of the company became the company “Zakłady Azotowe ANWIL Spółka Akcyjna” based in Włocławek, Poland, which sold its corporate and recreational center in the castle complex to the Neratovice real estate company EST.IM.HO, owned by Italian entrepreneur Girolamo D’Agostino, who prepared a study for the revitalization of the castle, including the castle building and the castle park, with the park redevelopment also including the implementation of new spa buildings. However, the revitalization of the castle and the castle garden did not take place, and the castle was offered for sale again in 2012.

In 2022, we purchased the castle for you and lovingly restored its original elements to bring you the authentic feeling of comfort and luxury that significant figures of the past experienced. Every corner of the castle bears traces of history and tells its own story.