Dacice Chateau

The Dacice Chateau is located in the South Bohemian Region, in the Town of Dacice. In the 16th century, Dacice Chateau was the center of a large manor of the Kraiger of Krajek, an aristocratic family from Carinthia. The family first had the so-called Old Chateau built here, a Renaissance building with a battlement, which was completed in 1579.

The New Chateau was built in the Renaissance style by the Italian architect Francesco Garof da Bissone. It is listed in the Dacice land registers as a new building in 1591. Heinrich Karl, Count of Ostein, who bought the manor in 1728, had the Renaissance chateau rebuilt in the Baroque style and newly furnished. 

In 1713, Francesco Perrini of the Berk family designed a modification of the chateau tower, in which a clock was set. Further modifications were made by the Kunzac builder Francesco Camelli in the 1720s for the Ostein family. A kitchen was added to the chateau. The sides of the building were modified and the unpreserved sculptural decoration, authored by the Dacice sculptor Sebald Kolbl, is archived. 

The aristocratic Dalberg family from the Upper Rhineland inherited the chateau in 1809. Anton Maximilian Dalberg gradually began to transform the old Baroque chateau into a modern and comfortable residence for his family, accustomed to modern luxury. In the years 1818-1820, the interiors were significantly modified. The rooms were newly painted, the so-called “Gothic hall” was created and Classicist furniture was purchased for the chateau. 

A major reconstruction of the chateau happened in the 1830s. Viennese architect designed a composed façade with an entrance risalit. He also significantly transformed the interiors on the first floor of the representative part of the building. The last building modification, in 1909 during the reign of Friedrich Egbert Dalberg, changed the appearance of the courtyard. When replacing the windows in the corridors, the original Renaissance arcade was uncovered, the arcade arches were glazed,and a neo-baroque chapel was built according to the project of the Viennese architect Hans Prutscher. 

After the death of Johann Dalberg, the chateau briefly became the property of the Salm-Salm family. It was nationalized and opened to the public in 1945. The radical reconstruction in the years 1990-1996 saved the dilapidated New Chateau of the Dacice Chateau. Today, visitors can see the restored interiors from the early 20th century. 

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