The first report of
Rychnov nad Kneznou dates back to 1258 when Mr. Herman z Drholce added "z Rychnova" to his signature. He was a loyal supporter of the Czech king Premysl Otakar II. in the fights against Hungarian king Bela IV. As a reward for this service he obtained domain in the Knezna river-basin. He found a colony and built a citadel there to protect it. The colony was promoted to a town soon. We do not know what the fort looked like, but perhaps it was made of wood and not very large. During the civil war both the lords Jan and Hynek z Rychnova stayed by the hussite side. Jan - junior supported the king Jiri z Podebrad. 1497 Vilem z Pernstejna bought the Rychnov domain, but Pernstejn family had to sell stepwise various parts of the domain to repay their debts. After the death of Albrecht z Pernstejna Rychnov fell to the King. Ferdinand I., Maxmilian II. and Rudolf II. were direct lords of Rychnov.
The fort was in very bad condition in 1571. Maxmilian II. ordered to repair it, but Burian Trcka z Lipy, who bought the domain in 1577 found it uninhabitable and built a new castle upstream Knezna. It was built in renaissance style, but nowadays we can just guess the complete design since it was burned and re-built many times. In 1784 Frantisek Josef II. decided to establish a brewery there. These days it belongs to East- bohemian Breweries. Last reminders of the old fortress were cleared when new landscape was designed for the construction of
Kolovrat chateaux.
Burian Trcka z Lipy sold his castle closely after it had been finished. The new owners - Betengl family rebuilt the gothic church, founded a school and were responsible for handicraft development. They took part in the nobility revolt in 1618-1620. As a result, his property was completely confiscated in 1623. The confiscate changed owners several times before Frantisek Karel z Kolovrat got in possession. He was quite uncomfortable with the castle, which did not satisfy his needs of representation. This is why he decided to build a new chateaux. In fact, Frantisek Karel was one of the most important Czech personalities of his time. He acted as intermediary in the peace negotiations between Poland and Sweden and he also governed Moravia. More than hundred years later, there was another important person from the Kolovrat family - Frantisek Antonin. He was a Czech patriot who was, together with other people, responsible for the foundation of National Museum in Prague and he entailed his 35.000-bunch library in favour of the Museum. He was appointed Minister of Home Office in 1826 and at this office he opposed Metternich's reactionary tendencies. Again, he rebuilt the church this time in a new gothic style - the first one in Bohemia. His successor Jan Karel Krakovsky z Kolovrat supported Czech writers (Bozena Nemcova, for instance) and amateur theatricals.
Rychnov nad Kneznou chateaux is a baroque chateaux built in the years 1676 - 1690 whereas the renaissance old castle was left and became a part of local brewery. In 1713 the chateaux was rebuilt again by
Jan Blazej Santini: the original austere four-wing building got a new facing with side wings, the endways axis was underlined by a new court and the reconstruction of the churche's facade so that it matched to the axis of the entire complex. During the Thirty Years' War the estate was acquired by the Libstiens from Kolowrat till 1945, when it was nationalised.
Architecture of the chateaux: A double-storied palace with arcades in the ground floor was built round the square-shaped court. The second court is decorated with a fountain that finished the first phase of construction. The main face is formed by the south-west wing with a front gate in the centre. There is the Kolovrat eagle and the golden fleece decoration above the main portal. The architect was anonymous, but he belonged to the North-Italian school.
Another stage of construction started in 1722. Famous architect Giovanni Santini built a second floor, added two corner towers to the main building and completed the complex with a French garden containing two pavilions of salla terrena decorated with mural paintings of Kolovrat family residences. Low wings between the towers and the main face were perforated with gateways. The chateaux was connected through passages with a riding hall and with the church. At this occasion, the gothic face of the church was replaced by a baroque one, which matches the main axis of the complex and makes the main dominant.
The interior of Rychnov nad Kneznou is also very attractive, not only because of the painting gallery gathering masterpieces from the last half a millennium. Original chambers are decorated by atmospheric furniture, Flemish gobelins, Venetian lustres and collections of Viennese porcelain and Bohemian glass. Together with the library it makes up an extraordinary complex.
Guide 
