Cervene Porici Chateau

Cervene Porici Chateau is a unique Saxon Renaissance Chateau that is now sadly in a dilapidated state.

The village Cervene Porici, where this chateau is located, is about 30 kilometers away from the city of Pilsen in the Pilsen region. How it got to this point can be explained by its history.

Before the chateau was built, a keep, first mentioned in a sales contract from the sixteenth century, was already established in the village. Sadly, in 1606, a fire destroyed this keep to its foundation and the owner died soon after the tragedy. The owner´s son, Mikulas II, Sic z Drahenic, then had the new Renaissance Chateau built near the stream Bradlavka. The building dates back to 1611, which is known from the engraving on a stone slab that is above the entrance to the courtyard.

The complex consisted of a forecourt, courtyard, main building with a tower, and Chateau garden, in which there were a gazebo and a greenhouse. Everything has been preserved, but the main building of the chateau had one floor added. This might have happened during the reconstruction in the eighteenth century. Since Mikulas II, Sic z Drahenic, was a participant in the Czech estate uprising, his newly-built chateau was confiscated, and throughout the years was owned by noble Bavarian families.

In the eighteenth century, the chateau was owned by the Hauben family, which has done a complete restoration. After the passing of Jan Jiri z Haubenu, the estate was inherited by his daughter, married to Norbert Thorring von Jettenbach. Now under the Thorrings, there was a quite busy social life featuring high dignitaries and high Bavarian nobility. This is reflected in the historical records where it is possible to find high-ranking names.

Then in the nineteenth century, the property was owned by the Dukes of Tuscany, which were part of the Habsburg imperial family. By the end of their ownership, the manor consisted of 22 villages and the town of Roupov. Afterward, World War I broke out.

When the war ended and Czechoslovakia was founded, the Cervene Porici chateau became state property and it stayed that way until World War II. Afterward, the estate became the headquarters and a residential facility of forest management under the Regional Forest Administration. Luckily, in 1997, the National Heritage Institute took over the property, and in 2010, it was declared a national cultural monument.

For more information about the Pilsen Region, from which this chateau comes, click here and here.