Location: 28 km North-west Olomouc, Moravia Map
Constructed: 1317
Bouzov Castle (originally Búzov) stands in the village of the same name southwest of the town of Loštice in central-western Moravia. It gives the impression of a well-preserved medieval monument, but its current form comes from a romantic reconstruction from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The castle is the property of the Czech Republic and its management is ensured by the National Institute of Monuments. It has been protected as a cultural monument since 1964, and in 1999 it was entered on the list of national cultural monuments. It is among the ten most visited castles in the Czech Republic and is a popular location for filmmakers.
The castle was probably built at the turn of the 13th and 14th
centuries, its first documented owner was "Búz z Bouzova" (Buzo von
Buzowe, Buso de Busow) in 1317–1339. From the middle of the 14th
century, it was owned by the lords of Vildenberk, who sold it to
Margrave Jošt in 1382. In 1396, Jošt left it to the lords of Kunštát,
who modified and fortified the castle. This family owned the castle for
approximately 70 years, after which several owners took turns in its
possession, one of the most important ones being the Haugvic family from
Biskupice. The history of the Moravian line of the Haugvics from
Biskupice began to be written in 1494, when Jan (Hanuš) Haugvic from
Biskupice bought Bouzov Castle. In 1502, he received from King Vladislav
Jagiellonian promotion to the status of a Bohemian manor for himself and
his descendants for faithful service. He died here at the end of 1524,
and the castle was then held by his heirs.
During the Thirty
Years' War, Bouzov served as an imperial fortress and a prison for
Swedish prisoners. The castle served as a manor almost until the end of
the 17th century. In 1649, the castle was bought by Eugenie Podstatská
from Prusinovice, her son sold it to the Order of Teutonic Knights in
1696. However, they did not live in Bouzova and left it partly to fall
into disrepair. After the end of World War I and the disintegration of
Austria-Hungary, Rádu Castle was confiscated by the newly established
Czechoslovak Republic. On November 4, 1918, the castle was occupied by
Czechoslovak troops. This act was prompted by the fact that the interior
of the castle belonged to Archduke Eugene of Austria-Tiesin from a minor
branch of the Habsburgs, and after the collapse of the monarchy, the
property of the Habsburgs in the new state was confiscated. The
Czechoslovak army left the castle only in 1923, which was helped by the
voluntary resignation of Archduke Evžen from the position of Grand
Master of the Order of the Teutonic Knights and the decision of the
International Court of Justice in The Hague, which established that the
Order is an international spiritual and charitable institution and
therefore its property is not subject to confiscation.
In 1929,
President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk visited the castle together with Prime
Minister František Udržal and Minister of the Interior Jan Černý. They
were also welcomed at the castle by the Grand Master of the German Order
of the Virgin Mary of Jerusalem and the Bishop of Brno, Norbert Jan
Nepomucký Klein. The order later bought back Evžen's property and
inventory from the Czechoslovak state so that the collections were
preserved as a whole.
The castle belonged to the Order until
1939, when it was confiscated by the Nazis, specifically the SS units,
who had their base at the castle, from which they made raids into the
surrounding area - the last action of the SS units was the burning of
the village of Javoříčko and the murder of 38 men aged between 15 and 76
. After World War II, the castle was confiscated by the Czechoslovak
state. It is still in state administration, the efforts of the Order of
the Teutonic Knights to return the castle have not yet been successful.
The Order of the Teutonic Knights (now the Teutonic Order) took
steps to restore Bouzov Castle even in 2016. The castle also served
(outside of the WWII period) as the Order's museum, and in the event of
its restoration, the monument would continue to serve its purpose and
would be accessible to the public.
The castle was built with a typically bergfrit layout with a one-story palace. At the end of the 14th century, a forecourt was added to the castle. In 1558, Bouzov Castle burned down, but due to the financial problems of the owners at the time, the castle was fully restored only in 1620. The castle was remodeled to its present form between 1895 and 1910 at the instigation of Archduke Eugene of Austria-Tiesin, then Grand Master of the Order. Archduke Evžen allocated the funds with the consent of the order's chapter from the revenues of the order's estates. In 1895, a large part of the original medieval castle was demolished, and within two years a new castle was built in a romantic spirit, imitating southern German castles. The author of the historical form of the castle was Georg von Hauberrisser, the architect of, among other things, the New Town Hall in Munich. Various medieval artefacts related to the order of the Teutonic Knights were brought to the castle, and the castle's interiors were furnished with replicas of medieval furniture. Today's Bouzov is therefore a castle, part of which is originally from the Middle Ages and part of which was newly built at the end of the 19th century.
About Ondřej the Bear (1959, director: Jaroslav Mach)
Daisies for
the Lady of the Castle (1981, directed by Josef Pinkava)
Restored
beauty
The Third Judge (1986, director: Vojtěch Štursa)
War of the
Oxen
About Princess Jasněnka and the Flying Shoemaker (1987,
director: Zdeněk Troška)
About Jan and a Wonderful Friend (1990,
director: Ludvík Ráža)
Golden Rose Cave
Princess Fantaghiró (1991,
directed by Lamberto Bava)
Dance for God
Young Indiana Jones
Azrael, the angel of death
Arabela Returns or Rumburak the King of
the Fairytale Kingdom (1993, directed by Václav Vorlíček)
Ten
Centuries of Architecture (1997)
Rumplcimprcampr (1997, director:
Zdeněk Zelenka)
Cruel Lake
About the treasure of Anežka Česká
Half (2004, Dir: Dennis Gansel)
The blood of the missing
In the
footsteps
Hotzenplotz Robber
The Kingdom of Streams (2005,
director: Pavel Jandourek)
Cottage is a game
Boys in action
Behind the school
The Three Musketeers
Twelve moons (2012–2013,
director: Karel Janák)
Adventures (2016)
Where the princesses
lived (Czech TV documentary, 2010, director: Jakub Wehrenberg)
About
the cursed king and brave Martin (2018, director: Peter Bebjak)
Princess and Half a Kingdom (2019, director: Karel Janák)
Princess
Enchanted in Time (2020, director: Petr Kubík)
Princess Enchanted in
Time 2 (2022, director: Petr Kubík)