Lednice

Lednice is located in South Moravia, near the border with Austria. The warm climate of Moravia is favourable for wine-growing, especially in the Lednice region. The municipality is first mentioned in the 13th century when it was purchased by the Lichtenstein family, who owned it until 1945. The best way to experience Lednice and Valtice, which is included in the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape, is by bike.

What you must see in Lednice

Lednice Castle is a jewel of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape and also one of the most beautiful complexes of English Neo-Gothic in Europe. The residential building used to serve as a summer house of the Lichtenstein family. There are several different tours of the chateau interiors and outside the chateau there is a French garden with a palm greenhouse, a Masonic garden and a chateau park that blends into the countryside. In the park, there are several islands on the blind shoulder of the Dyje River, a Roman aqueduct, a lookout tower Minaret and a Moorish water house with a dock where scenic boat rides start.

Baroque chateau stables

The newly repaired Baroque chateau riding school and a stable is also worth seeing. Horses used to be an important object of prestige and a symbol of wealth and power. Therefore, stables were a necessary part of the residential areas of reigning families. The same applies to Lednice, the summer house of the princely family of Lichtenstein, where the idea of Prince Karl Eusebius of Lichtenstein was turned into a project built by Johann Bernard Fischer of Erlach at the end of the 17th century.
The former stables and a riding school now serve as a multipurpose centre in which educational and cultural activities take place. The programme of the new centre focuses on the significance of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape and its history.

The inventor of the pencil and Lednice

Josef Hardmuth was a court builder and architect of the Lichtenstein family at the time when the current appearance of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape was being built, i.e. at the end of the 18th century. He designed and built the constructions. He designed Janohrad, Pohansko, Diane’s temple and the colonnade on Reistna. Thanks to his universal skills and talent, Mr. Hardmuth invented a lot of things. One of the most famous is the pencil, i.e. graphite of various hardness levels with worked tips protected by wooden cases.