Chateau Opočno

Chateau Opočno

In 1634 the formerly favoured Emperor’s general was accused of a plot, unseated and wilfully assassinated together with his friends and counsellors, among whom was also Adam Erdman Trčka, the young offi cer and his brother-in-law. The family died out and Opočno became the possession of the Italian aristocratic family Colloredo until the Second World War.

Why visit

At fi rst it looked as if Jan Rudolf Trčka of Lípa was very lucky. He inherited an opulent Renaissance family chateau, a profi table estate and married Marie Magdalena of Lobkowicz, a woman not only beautiful and intelligent, but also active and businesslike. Maybe even too active. The serfs called her “Bad Manda” due to her selfi shness, greed and inhuman treatment. Mainly after the year 1620, when the Czech nobility’s revolt against the Emperor had been defeated, she had become the richest woman of that time through property leverage, intrigues and relations with both the defeated and the victorious sides. She dreamed about a military and later a political career for her son, but this ended with his death and the loss of credit and the property of the whole family.