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JINDŘICHŮV HRADEC | |
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Around the year 1200 the Vítkovci founded a stronghold on a
cliff protected by the Hamerský stream and the river Nežárka. Jindřich, one of the
sons of the legendary Vítek of Prčice, is mentioned in records from 1220 with the
nickname "de Nova Domo" or "de nova castro". The Lords of Hradec were not always loyal subjects of their rulers or good neighbours, therefore they not only built fortifications round the castle but also walls around the rapidly growing town. Under Jindřich the uncomfortable castle was reconstructed. Late-Gothic arcades linked it with living quarters vis-a-vis, in the square tower an openhearth kitchen was made and the large hall above it was decorated with allegorical pictures. Adam I of Hradec built the so-called Adam's building in the 3rd courtyard as the tablet with the date 1528 reveals. His son Joachim and grandson Adam II also contributed to transforming the old Gothic castle into a representative mansion. In rapid succession a wing of Rožmberk rooms followed, the Italians, Antonín Ericer and Baltazare Maggi completed Joachim's and Adam's New buildings, which were linked by large arcades to the older wing of Green rooms between 1586 and 1592. At the same time Antonio Cometa built the Little Arcades. With the garden laid out behind the large arcades and the building of a unique music pavilion called. Rondel, joined to Adam's building by an arcaded passage, the mansion was almost finished. Through his marriage with Lucie Otýlie, last of the Hradec family, Vilém Slavata of Chlum and Košumberk, adviser to the king and the highest official in the Bohemian realm, obtained the Jindřichův Hradec estate. But neither he nor his descendants made any fundamental alterations at the mansion. Under Jan Joachim Slavata the Rondel was given stucco decoration by Vavřinec Miller. Then the arcaded passage to the right of the Rondel and leading to grottoes built out of the old semi-circular bastion, was walled. On the death of the last male member of the Slavata family, the estate came through marriage to Heřman Jakub Černín of Chudenice. At the wishes of his pious wife, Marie Josefa, Heřman Černín had the old castle chapel rebuilt. It was decorated and given a new altar by his son, František Josef. A great fire in 1773 heavily damaged all the buildings on the 3rd courtyard, a disaster from which the mansion has not fully recovered. The Adam building was roofed for the time being but the other objects were exposed for a long time to the elements. The owners stayed only seldom at the mansion, they lived mainly at nearby Jemčina. It was not until the early 20th century that Count Evžen Černín commissioned the Viennese architect, Humbert Walcher of Moltheim, to start with repairs which are being carried out till today. Visitors can choose from three sight - seeing tours. The first takes them to the Adam building containing reminders of the three famous families which owned Jindřichův Hradec through the centuries. The second is devoted to the oldest history of the mansion, the old Palace with the St. George legend and the open-hearth kitchen. The last tour concerns the architectural development of the mansion as a whole. The bestknown legend about the White Lady is connected with the kitchen. Bohuslav Balbín writes in his Miscellanea from the history of the Bohemian Realm which came out in 1679 to 1687: "All ancient legends agree that she is the.fóunder of the distribution of sweet gruel which was cooked for the poor every year. Whetrever it happened that in times of adversity, during threats of enemy invasion or for other causes, this act pleasing to God was omitted, she was extremely angry, in truth she raged in her dissatisfaction and hoohe could hold it out with her. Acrd she did not cease until the poor were served according to the usual charitable custom... " Under the Slavatas, Balbín wrote, the feeding of the poor took place in this way that " ... they were given a,fat soup of'a very good aroma, two meals of fsh, and a sweet semolina pudding cooked with warm beer and honey and greased with poppy-seed oil, a loaf of bread and jug of beer." The town of Jindřichův Hradec is only a little younger than the castle. The oldest part is around the Church of the Virgin Mary through which the meridian 15° E longitude passes. Next to the church there was the Landfras printing house where the first Czech books were printed in the Revival period. Among the most priceless and oldest objects is the former Minorite monastery with the Church of St. John the Baptist and the St. Nicholas, the Virgin Mary and Soukenická chapels. The oldest church under the patronage of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, consecrated to St. Mary Magdalene, is mentioned already in the 13th century. It was joined to the Jesuit college at the end of the 16th century. Professor Bohuslav Balbín worked in the nearby Jesuit seminary (today the Municipal Museum) between 1655 and 1661. Under the last Lords of Hradec at the end of the 16th century the town achieved such great importance that it was considered second to Prague in the kingdom. |
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