The Choltice Château

The first written mention of Choltice u Přelouče dates from 1285. The original fortress was converted into a relatively large château building with thirty-six rooms, a kitchen, a pantry and four cellars probably in the second half of the 16^th century. The château was built as a square with a tower in one corner. The southern wing of the château also includes the Chapel of Saint Romedius with detailed stucco decorations. Nowadays, it is a parish church. The entrance into the chapel leads from the courtyard and it consists of Tuscan columns with the balustrade. It is an octagonal structure which has been partitioned inside by ten pilasters. While other châteaux often only have small, sometimes simple chapels, but sumptuous living quarters, the opposite is true in Choltice: the chapel is sumptuous, while the living quarters are very modest. Another point of interest is the Sala terrena, i.e. the hall situated on the ground floor which opens out into the gardens. The Count and Countess established a pharmacy for the poor in the newly built château in 1672 and this is now part of the château’s first tour circuit. An English landscape garden was established on the site of the old château’s fortifications and it merges into a 70 hectare game park with a cascade of fishponds, ancient oaks, plane trees and hornbeams which are evidence of the more than 400-year history of the game park which is now a nature reserve.