Moravská Třebová Castle

The castle occupies the footprint of the 13th-century hilltop fortress and was originally conceived as a four-winged Renaissance palace around a large inner courtyard. After the great fire of 1840 the complex took on a U-shaped plan with an open southern court where the south wing once stood. Construction combines heavy stone masonry with dressed stone for decorative openings, and large arcaded galleries link the surviving wings.

A reduced form of the original tower survives and contains a spiral staircase that connects the floors. Historically the main gate stood in the north wing; following 19th-century rebuilding principal access shifted toward the southern approach. The north façade projects from the tower mass and is finished with a mansard roof above a profiled cornice; a triangular pediment set into this roofline contains a clock.

Arcaded walkways connect the north, east and part of the west wings. The arcades rest on piers with rusticated stone between the arches and piers carved with fantastic mask motifs. The covered galleries are spanned by groin vaulting; these arcaded courts embody the late-Renaissance aim to link living quarters by sheltered, ornamented passages.

The east wing survived the 1840 fire in its original form and contains the Knight’s Hall, a large vaulted chamber with cross vaulting decorated with the heraldic emblems of the Boskowitz family and allied houses. The principal Renaissance portal beside the northern approach dates to 1492: a three-part stone opening with half-columns supporting an entablature, column bases bearing carved half-figure reliefs, and portrait medallions that reproduce likenesses of Ladislaus of Boskowitz and his wife. Original marble portrait reliefs from about 1495 were produced in a central Italian workshop.

Later additions made between 1611 and 1620 created three mannerist wings with arcaded courtyards built over the former moat, works that reflect Italian design influence and stonecutting by craftsmen including Adam Motl, Abondio Olivier Salis and Lorenz Paris. The west wing historically served economic functions and was attached to a cubic kitchen often called the black kitchen, while northern outbuildings were converted into a castle brewery during Liechtenstein ownership.

Interior survivals include medieval vaulted spaces now used for historical displays, among them a medieval torture chamber and an alchemist’s laboratory. The complex also contains rooms that have served as the town library and an art school. Much of the exterior appearance after 19th-century reconstruction reflects late Empire taste, while conservation and restoration work carried out in the 1990s through 2005 repaired and stabilized the principal historic elements.