Bruntál Castle

The Bruntál chateau was founded in the 2nd half of the 15th century by the lords of Vrbno, who rebuilt it in the 2nd half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century into a magnificent Renaissance chateau with an unconventional layout in the shape of a circular section. After the defeat of the White Mountain, the Bruntál chateau fell to the Teutonic Knights as a confiscation. The chateau acquired its present appearance only after a late Baroque reconstruction in the years 1766 – 1769. During the reconstruction, the Renaissance arcades in the courtyard as well as the clock tower and a number of other building elements of the original chateau were preserved, which managed to create a unique remarkable combination of the Renaissance and Baroque styles in one building. Further partial modifications in the years 1838 – 1840 and at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries affected only the castle interiors and castle parks. The castle in Bruntál is state property; in 1957 it became the seat of the district museum and since 1960 it has been open to the public. 
  Twenty-six halls on the first floor of the chateau with valuable Rococo wall paintings are equipped with rich furnishings from the 18th to the end of the 19th century. Also noteworthy are the chateau gallery with works by Italian, Dutch, Flemish and German masters of the 16th and 18th centuries, the hunting armoury and the chateau library. On the ground floor, in addition to the chapel, the premises of the former stables and the oldest halls of the original Renaissance chateau, where museum and art exhibitions are held, are also accessible. The representative halls and the chateau courtyard are used for concerts, theatre performances and other cultural events.