Vranov's location was first mentioned by Cosmas of Prague in 1100 as a border sentry castle (oppidum (et) castrum Wranou)
Vranov's location was first mentioned by Cosmas of Prague in 1100 as a border sentry castle (oppidum (et) castrum Wranou). It was built by the Dukes of Bohemia to defend the southern border of Moravia against raids from the neighbouring Austrian March. Until 1323 the castle was in royal hands but in that year king John of Bohemia pawned Vranov to a powerful Bohemian nobleman, the viceroy Jindřich of Lipá.
In 1421, during the disturbances of the Hussite Wars the Bohemian noble family of Lichtenburg took control of the castle and the contiguous market town. In 1499 it definitely passed on to Lichtenburgs as hereditary possession by the king Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary. The Lichtenburg family held Vranov for almost a century, until 1516.
In the 16th century, Vranov frequently changed the holders. Probably the most significant owners were lords from the Bavarian family of Althann, cousins of the Princes of Belmonte. Wolf Dietrich of Althann purchased the castle in 1614.
Michael Johann II Althann recovered the Vranov estate for the family in 1680. He commissioned the famous Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to design a grand hall, known as ‘the Hall of the Ancestors’ in the Baroque style as a memorial to his Althann ancestors. It was built between 1687 and 1695. It’s an oval construction surmounted by an imposing cupola and became a dominant feature of Vranov. An Austrian sculptor, Tobias Kracker, created large statues of the ancestors in niches around the walls and another Austrian artist, Johann Michael Rottmayr, painted an allegorical glorification of the Althann family in the cupola. To complement the Hall of the Ancestors with a spiritual element, Fischer von Erlach designed a Baroque chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, which incorporated an Althann family vault. The richly decorated chapel was built in two years (1699 and 1670). After the death of Michael Johann II Althann more grand buildings were constructed, completing the transformation of the original castle complex into an up-to-date Baroque chateau.
Parking of motor vehicles in front of the lock is not possible. For this purpose, large and except for the seasonal season, the guarded parking lot at the road at the end of Vranov (towards Podmýč) serves. Visitors can take a 600-meter-long pedestrian walking path to the main entrance to the castle.
https://www.zamek-vranov.cz/cs/informace-pro-navstevniky/vstupne
https://www.zamek-vranov.cz/cs/informace-pro-navstevniky/vstupne
https://www.zamek-vranov.cz/cs/informace-pro-navstevniky/vstupne
Free:
- Children under 6 years, ZTP / P and ZTP / P, ZTP 18 years, cardholders ICOM, ICOMOS, Association of Museums and Galleries, holders zaměsnaneckých certificates of the National Heritage Institute and journalists after the previous accreditation in the management of the castle
- Children up to 6 years