The Slatiňany Château

The gothic fortress dating from the 14^th century was transformed over a period of 600 years into the modern seat of the Auersperg aristocratic family, which owned the château for two centuries until it died out in 1942. The château can offer four tour circuits: one tour is of the gentlemen’s floor where the family of the Princes of Auersperg lived at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, while another tour circuit presents unconventional places such as the château ice room, the boiler room dating from the 1920s or the large bathroom dating from the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries where it is possible to become acquainted with the level of château hygiene of the day. The Hippological Museum in the château tower is also open to the public. The Hippological Museum is one of the tour trails which is dedicated to horses, i.e. to their anatomy, breeding and use in society. The artistic collections offer a wide palette of significant horse paintings mainly from the 18^th and 19^th centuries, while other exhibits present the use of horses in the military, transport, hunting and races. Nowadays, the Slatiňany Château and its hippological collections are administered by the National Heritage Institute which has invested significant funds in the gradual revitalisation of the entire facility. The extensive château park, where several interesting structures have been preserved, has also undergone reconstruction. In particular this involves the children’s farm complex which was designed to gently train the children from the House of Auersperg in the area of farming.