Rožmberk
Státní hrad Rožmberk, 382 18 Rožmberk nad Vltavou
Tel. +420 380 749 838
The castle was founded by Vok of Rožmberk in the first half of the 13th century. The first word of it is found in a scroll by King Wenceslas I in 1250. In 1612 the castle was passed on to the Švamberk family, only to be conquered seven years later by the Habsburg general, Charles Bonaventura Buquoy. The French family of the Buquoys, whom the castle was given to by the Emperor Ferdinand, stayed in Rožmberk and in nearby Nové Hrady where they lived from the 19th century until 1945.
In the course of the three centuries past, the Rožmberk castle underwent several partial reconstructions. The first one started in 1620, the second one a hundred years later during the time of Charles Albert Buquoy, and the third reconstruction - the most important one of all - began in the 1850s.
The interior of the Rožmberk castle is accessed by a monumental, lavishly carved staircase dating from the 1850s. Visitors can stroll through the Crusade Gallery where there are portraits of leading Christian crusaders. The Rožmberk armoury is, from a historical point of view, one of the most valuable in Bohemia today. Here you can see numerous examples of armour, helmets called morions, cutting weapons, and firearms mostly from the time of the Thirty Year War. In the following room once belonging to Charles Albert, there is an interesting green stove along with four bureaus dating from the 17th century. The last interior of the tour is the Prince's Room.
