CASTLE KUNDRATICE
A Jewel in the midst of the majestic Šumava National Park, Czech Republic, which is not just one of the oldest but one of the best preserved and maintained mountain ranges in Europe.
HISTORY OF THE CASTLE
An elegant historic recreational country residence, tucked into the scenic green hills and dense forests of the majestic Šumava National Park, Castle Kundratice includes 169 acres of surrounding hills and fields. The Šumava National Park, also known as the Bohemian Forest, is characterized by beautiful rolling hills and picturesque rocky ledges, which are also the source of the famous Vltava (Moldau) River, as in Smetana's My Country (Má Vlast). It is the perfect country venue to relax from a demanding professional life and to entertain clients and friends in the spirit of its pre-Communist owners, the Hašek Family, for whom it served as a peaceful refuge for family and special guests such as former President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Eduard Beneš. Among its most notable visitors was Winston Churchill’s Daughter, Diana, and her husband Duncan Sandys, Head of the British Commonwealth and Jimmy Darton, Head of the International Finance Corporation, IFC.
The Castle includes a majestic 2.5-acre Park and a large Inner Courtyard, at the center of which is a historic mid-19th century fountain surrounded by a charming fully restored Guest House for extended family or visitors, a garage, a stable for sixteen horses with a cozy saddle room for riding equipment and a barn. An additional major haybarn with an updated roof is located on the other side of the Castle’s Park. The Castle has its own Hunt for red deer in Season, “Honitba Zámek Kundratice”, conducted by an experienced Forester who also manages the Castle Forest Property (which is currently not part of this sale).
Its history goes back as a Fortress to the year 1360. In the second half of the 17th Century, the property was owned by the Knight Vilém Eichorn of Reichenbach who in 1675 sold it to Alex Mikuláš Šafman of Hamrles. It was around this date that the Renaissance Castle was built. In 1702 the property was acquired by Mary Francis Novohrad of Kolowrat. In 1709 Jan Nepomuk Kryštof František of Villani de Castello Pillonico turned the Castle over to Francis Carl Baron Villani who around 1840 perfected its modern Empire Style, which included the beautiful Chapel of Saint Anthony, which, robbed of its fine art and historic appointments, was torn down by the Communists in 1977. The Villani Family owned the Castle until 1865 when the owner became Willibald Huttary who later sold it to František Hašek, the Owner and President of the Hašek Bank in Prague (Bankovní Dům Hašek) and President of the Prague Stock Exchange. František Hašek was also a majority shareholder of the Melantrich Publishing Company which owned the largest newspaper in Czechoslovakia, České Slovo . In 1939, just after the Nazi invasion of the country, the Gestapo offered František Hašek a large sum of money for the sale of his majority shares in Melantrich to a German Bank. A strong Patriot, Hašek knew that the result of such a sale would mean that České Slovo would provide an invaluable tool for Nazi propaganda. He declined the sale in 1939 and again in 1940 and 1941. On June 5th, 1942, the Gestapo dragged him away in the middle of the night. His Family learned on radio BBC the following day that he had been executed by a Nazi firing squad.