Draft:Šilheřovice Castle

Šilheřovice Castle is a classicist chateau in the village of the same name in the Opava district. It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

History

The first written mention of Šilheřovice dates back to 18 April 1377. Originally, a Renaissance fortress stood on the site of the chateau, allegedly built in the second half of the 16th century by the Vrbensky family. They held Šilheřovice from 1560 to 1609. In 1609 Jan of Vrbno sold the estate to Bohunka Stošová of Kounice and the fortress is mentioned for the first time in the deed. Bohunka Stošová of Kounice gave the estate to her husband, Jan Geraltovský of Geraltovice, and in 1617 their son Václav inherited the estate. Two years later he sold the estate for 5,000 thalers to his brother Jáchym Geraltovský of Geraltovice. After his death, the property passed to his wife, who remarried Jan Jindřich Šlik. After his death in 1639, his son Vilém Jindřich Šlik inherited the estate. When he died in 1660, the estate was acquired by his daughter Marie Žofie Šlik, who also died two years later and the estate was acquired by Count František Borro and after him in 1666 by his niece Barbara Perpetua. The latter sold the entire Šilheřovice estate to the Opava Jesuit college. The Jesuits then probably left the fortress in ruins.

The chateau

After the abolition of the Jesuit Order in 1773, the Šilheřovice estate was transferred to the Royal Chamber. The latter sold the manor in 1787 to Karel Larishch of Lhota. He soon sold the estate to Johann Friedrich of Eichendorff for 79,200 gold coins. The poet Joseph von Eichendorff also visited the castle several times. After 1820, a landscape park was built around the castle, which was gradually expanded. In 1844 Salomon Meyer Rothschild bought the castle from the Echendorff family. Under the Rothschilds, the castle park was expanded and greenhouses were built. In the second half of the 19th century the castle was rebuilt in a pseudo-Baroque style. The Rotschilds owned the castle grounds until 1945, when it was nationalised.

After 1945

Today, the castle park is a golf course. The last owner before nationalisation was Alfons Rothschild. Already in May 1939 his property was confiscated and the Šilheřovice castle was converted into a field hospital. After 1945, the castle was not returned to the family, but the state administration did not know what to do with the building. In 1951, the castle was converted into a youth home where Greek children were accommodated. Eleven years later, the Secondary Vocational School of Mining was established here. The owners, without the consent of the conservation authority, began to make inappropriate changes to the castle, including inappropriate painting or the installation of iron steps to the Neptune Fountain. In 1966, the mining apprenticeship ended there, and in the same year the castle was handed over to the National Restaurant and Canteen Company for use as an apprenticeship.

The apprenticeship used the castle until 1989. In September 1991, Jacob Rotschild and his wife visited the castle. In 2001, a part of the film The Dark Blue World was filmed in the castle grounds. However, until 2002, the castle still functioned as an apprenticeship, although it was already partly using more modern buildings. In 2008, the castle was sold to the joint-stock company RACIMOLO RONI a.s. The company began extensive reconstruction and partially opened the castle to the public for commercial events, weddings and balls.