Radun Chateau – A Not-So-Royal Residence
Having spent a few hours exploring the nearby Opava (the Czech Republic), we reached Radun village just after lunch. We disembarked from the van and walked towards the chateau hidden by the foliage to reach a large pond. My first glimpse of this beautiful chateau made me gasp. Have a shooting star form an arc over it, and you have the Disney logo. To me, that’s what Radun Chateau looked like.
The view of Radun Chateau across the pond is one of the most beautiful. The shore offers places where you look at one of the most romantic castles and see its reflection in the water.
Radun Chateau History
During the 16th century, well-heeled aristocrats built lavish renaissance residences across Europe. Even Gillet Berthelot, a clerk close to the French King, harboured an ambition to build a similar luxurious Renaissance mansion for himself. He took over a 1475 CE structure and remodelled it in the late 16th century. So, it came about as a residence of a clerk, and not as an aristocratic abode.
Berthelot could not enjoy it for long as the king uncovered his financial subterfuges. Fearing the worst, he fled. This background reminded me of the story of Nicolas Fouquet, the aristocrat who built Chateau Vaux le Vicomte in Maincy, France.
Family portrait adorning a chateau wall 
Portrait of a charming aristocrat who once resided here
Even the later occupants of Radun Chateau did not have it easy. Jirik Tvorkovsky, a scion of an established aristocratic family, did not live to see its rebuilding completed. First, a fire destroyed it. And then, just before completion, he died.
Subsequent owners were more fortunate. Not only could they finish the construction but also redid the chateau park, and added an Orangery. Over the centuries, the chateau has undergone many reconstructions. Little wonder it displays the features from a variety of architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance and Classicism. Overall, today the architectural style would qualify as Neo-Gothic Romantic.
Radun Chateau Now
The state confiscated the chateau and its estate in 1947. They built apartments and an apprentice school here. In 1963, they adapted it to house a primary and a nursery school. Later, it functioned as a municipal office, a cinema, a health centre, and a library. The District National Committee took over the complex in 1978 and, after repairing it, turned it into a historical monument.
The National Heritage Institute (NHI) conducted a slow acquisition activity of furnishings and collections to restore the chateau’s public salons and private rooms. Today, the NHI manages the complex and has brought back its former glory. The rooms within look lived in, yet well-maintained. A striking aspect of the interiors is the various table settings in the rooms, be it the formal dining table, casual lounge seating, or elaborate and aesthetic tea service. It is all so regal and stylish!
The visitors can spend a peaceful day in its spread-out gardens, relax by one of its four ponds, and check out the opulent lifestyle of the medieval aristocracy.
Terrific Ajay! We will meet up when the pandemic is done. I am at Haralur Road, Sarjapur. Mathew 9740080263
Glad you liked it! Sure thing, we’ll meet soon!