Case study: The Battle for Jezeří Chateau
Introduction
For Jezeří Chateau, perched dramatically on the foothills of the Ore Mountains in North-West Bohemia, its struggle for survival has been an enduring one over the centuries and reached its most critical moments in the latter half of the 20th century long after pan-European wars were consigned to history. From its role as a troop base in the Hussite Wars, the various radical reconstructions it underwent, its numerous changes of ownership, and its use and misuse by German troops during the Second World War, Jezeří Chateau still faced almost inevitable ruin through deliberate neglect from the 1950s onward when the communist regime became transfixed by extracting as much of the surrounding coal deposits as possible, even at the expense of demolishing the chateau itself. Even now, after a successful fight to preserve the building, the threat of demise looms over the chateau once again as part of the equation to lifting the territorial mining limits imposed in the early 1990s.
The early history of the chateau
Even the landscape under the Ore Mountains has been through many radical changes, including the destruction of the villages Ervěnice, Nové Sedlo, Komořany, Třebušice, Dřínov, Albrechtice and Dolní Jiřetín, though one can still admire the genius of the builders from times gone by who couldn’t have chosen a more natural site for the chateau. It isn’t, however, just the calibre of this first class architectural landmark that impresses us. The chateau has also played a dominant role in the history of the region.
Today’s baroque structure covers a renaissance chateau, which in turn covers a gothic chateau. We could go even deeper into its history and look at the original Slavic settlements of the entire region. This site was chosen even earlier for their settlement by the Celts, who had their main settlement and holy sites on the slopes of the Ore Mountain foothills. Today, Jezeří Chateau is a monument of the first category, exceptional not only for its extraordinary and architectural value, but also its unsettled fate, it’s unusually beautiful location and its importance for the present and future development and shaping of life in the sub-Ore Mountain landscape.
There used to be a medieval chateau on the site of the present day chateau, but its founding date is unknown. The first written record of it dates from 1363-65 and states that the chateau was owned by the masters of Rvenice. Even then we encounter the names “de Lacu” (of the Lake) as well as “of Aysemberg”, also reflected in the old German name Eisenberg, logically connected to ore mining in this part of the Ore Mountains.
Bušek of Eisenberg sold the chateau in 1406 to Petr of Perč; the next owner of the property was Albrecht Sn. of Kolowrat. After his death, Jezeří was passed on to Jan Smolík of Slavice, a Catholic supporter who managed to hold the estate throughout the Hussite Wars. He left the chateau to his son Zikmund, who was known for his dislike of Saxons. Owing to this fact, there were frequent skirmishes between Jezeří and the Saxon troops at the nearby chateau of Hněvín.
The next owner of the chateau, the knight Kunz of Kaufunk (1450), also backed the interests of the kingdom of Bohemia, although his family came from Saxony. The reason for his attitude, however, was animosity between the Kaufunk family and the Prince Elector Friedrich of Saxony. The conflict escalated in 1455 when Kunz abducted the elector’s sons from the chateau of Altenburg to force Friedrich to give back the Fictum estates he had confiscated from him. Jezeří was supposed to be the place where prince Arnošt was held, but this intention never came to be. Kunz of Kaufunk and his men were caught on the Saxon side and Kunz was executed at Freiberg in 1455. Worried about the fate of Kunz’s sons, Kunz and Heinrich, the regional governor Jiří of Poděbrady took possession of the chateau and made use of the presence of his troops at Jezeří to capture the town of Most.
In 1459, the Smolík family returned to Jezeří and the last of them, Zikmund, bequeathed the chateau to his brother-in-law, Mikuláš Hochhauser of Hochhaus, in 1513. It was probably then that the chateau was rebuilt as a renaissance chateau.
The Renaissance Chateau
The conversion of the medieval chateau into a renaissance chateau was finished in 1549. There is an ornamental stone wedge over the main gate that commemorates this event. The wedge bears the coat of arms of the Hochhauser family, the year 1549 and an inscription stating “O people, remember where the master is and his family.”
When Mikuláš died, his son Petr took over the chateau, and from him it was passed on to his sons Václav Jr. and Mikuláš. The latter later bought the part belonging to his brother, but unfortunately died fighting the Turks at the Battle of Jager in 1569. The estate went back to his brother Václav, who sold it to his cousin Jiří Hochhauser of Hochhaus in Albrechtice. Jiří’s son Jan Mikuláš (who owned the chateau from 1605) was punished for his participation in the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 by having his fortune confiscated in favour of the emperor Ferdinand II.
The emperor gave Jezeří together with other estates to prince Karl of Liechtenstein by an edict of 15 March 1622. The new owner sold it almost exactly a year later (24 March 1623) to Vilém Popel Jr. of Lobkowicz in Bílina for 80,847 Meissen three-scores. Vilém, however, only paid for two thirds of the estate – 67 956 three-scores. The other third remained in Hochhauser possession and Vilém was supposed to pay the rest of the price to the heirs of Jan Mikuláš. Apparently, he failed to do so, because in 1631, during the Saxon invasion, Jiří and Bernard Hochhauser, who had lived in exile until that point, returned to Jezeří, pilaged it completely and “took whatever could be taken”. The financial disputes between Lobkowicz and Hochhausers were settled completely only in 1638.
To the great advantage of historians, a description of the renaissance chateau has been preserved. It had been made for the occasion of selling the chateau. The catalogue mentions the foreroom, the masters’ room, the kitchen, the buttery and pantry, three rooms for maids, an upper closet, the ladies’ room and closet, the hind closet, the upper chamber, the hall, the schoolroom, the second hall, a lower vaulted chamber, a masters’ closet and chamber, and the clock tower. There was an orchard around the chateau that included fruit and walnut trees, among other types. There were also three derelict vineyards, and below the chateau was a brewery and a Meierhof (a farm belonging to the local gentry). The estate also consisted of five villages and three other Meierhofs.
An account from October 1621 describes the chateau of Jezeří as “heavily damaged by soldiers”, not one window was intact and the doors and floorboards were torn out. Minor reconstructions, however, began at the chateau as soon as 1627; in 1638 the “brick roofs” were being repaired.
Unfortunately, on 18 February 1646 the chateau caught fire and burned to the ground, with the exception of a small tall building and the stables. A year later, Vilém Popel died and the estate went to his son František Vilém, the founder of the Nové Sedlo-Jezeří branch of the family. There were, however, no significant alterations to the chateau carried out during his lifetime.