Račice Castle

Račice Castle presents as a substantial complex that combines architectural elements from the Renaissance and Empire periods, arranged on a prominent hill overlooking the surrounding village. The castle’s layout forms a square enclosed by four wings with a tower at each corner. The eastern wing incorporates portions of the original medieval fortress, while the other three wings, forming a U-shaped configuration that opens to the south, reflect the Renaissance expansion.

Between these wings are arcades featuring detailed relief sculptures and heraldic symbols connected to the Petřvaldský family, showcasing the ornamental style favored during the late sixteenth century. The southeast façade of the castle is distinguished by elaborate composite capitals—a decorative column style combining features of Ionic and Corinthian orders—and decorative moldings. A portico with an accessible terrace adds further architectural interest to this side of the building.

The north wing was dismantled and rebuilt in the 1800s by Baron Wilhelm von Mundy. His renovations introduced a grand entrance vestibule supported by Ionic columns, a classical element characterized by scroll-shaped capitals. Inside, this wing contains a self-supporting staircase, a structural design that allows the stairs to hold themselves without visible support beams, indicating both aesthetic and engineering advancements of the period.

Within the castle’s courtyard, visitors encounter a dividing wall featuring a gateway that separates the main residential area from the economic yard used for service and support functions. On the south end of the courtyard stands the parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which formerly served as the castle chapel created during the Renaissance remodeling. Opposite this, on the northern side, is a bell tower converted from an earlier medieval bastion, demonstrating the adaptive reuse of defensive structures over time.

The main gate is preceded by a moat that once included a drawbridge, an element typical of medieval fortifications to control access. The moat itself has since been filled in, but its outline remains part of the castle’s defensive heritage.

Surrounding the castle is an English landscape park delineated by walled boundaries with gates on the northern and eastern sides. This expansive garden grew out of a smaller Renaissance-era garden, expanded during the nineteenth century to reflect contemporary tastes for naturalistic landscapes.

Inside, Renaissance features include two large halls with mirror vaults—arched ceilings with symmetrical, reflective patterns—and stucco decorations. The interiors also retain two carved stone fireplaces from the early seventeenth century, notable for their detailed relief ornamentation.

At the center of the courtyard stands a hexagonal fountain crowned by a statue of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune and luck. Commissioned in 1598, this sculpture is believed to be the work of the sculptor G. Gialdi, linking the castle’s artistic heritage to broader Renaissance trends in Central Europe.

Today, Račice Castle also includes lodging facilities housed mainly in four-bed rooms with shared bathrooms, while a separate tourist lodging building in the forecourt offers accommodation for additional guests. These adaptations continue to use the historic spaces while maintaining the structural and decorative elements that define this layered architectural site.