Třeboň – The Town of Scales and Fish

The name Třeboň most probably comes from the word "tříbit" or "třebit". The place had to be first cleared, i.e. cut down or eradicated, so that a settlement could be established.

The original marshy landscape of the Třeboň Basin with its vast forests was crossed for centuries only by numerous trade routes. The first mention of the settlement of the area dates back to the 12th century, when a small settlement or manor house, Wittingau or Vitek's Meadow, was established on one of these trails, after the founder of the Vitek family from Prčice. The town with today's name of Třeboň is situated on a unique technical work: the artificially built Golden Drain in the landscape of pond systems built by Štěpánek Netolický, Jakub Krčín from Jelčany or Mikuláš Rutard from Malešov. Třeboň was granted town status in 1341, in 1376 and 1378 then the so-called "right of royal towns" and the privilege of importing salt.

The square is surrounded by townhouses with Renaissance and Baroque gables, which form the town's conservation area. The most valuable houses are the House of the White Horse and the Old Town Hall, whose 31-metre-high tower offers an unparalleled view of the historic city centre. It is also home to the J. K. Tyl Theatre with one of the oldest preserved curtains in the Czech Republic. Every year, the town hosts the famous ANIFILM Animation Film Festival.

Information about the construction of the pond systems and the person of the pond builder himself can be found in the beautifully restored Štěpánek Netolický House, which also offers a wonderful gallery space.

Třeboňské náměstí rises gently to the extensive castle complex, which ranks fourth among castles and chateaux in Bohemia. On the Renaissance gate at the entrance to the chateau grounds, dating from 1607, you will find the Rožmberk Orsini coat of arms with bears, lion's head and the titles of the owners of the estate.

The chateau's decoration today reminds us of the important Renaissance period, when two Rožmberk brothers, Wilhelm and Petr Vok, adapted the manor to their own image. Only in subtle details and corners do we discover elements that remind us of the original Gothic castle of the Lords of Landštejn and Rožmberk, which burned down in 1562.

Because Petr Vok of Rožmberk, perhaps the most important and best known member of the family, decided to sell Český Krumlov and move to Třeboň due to debts, he had all his art collections, valuable library and family archives transported to the castle, which was the only one to survive the subsequent Thirty Years' War and the Ramparts;became the basis of an extensive archive, which is guarded within the castle walls to this day.

After the death of Petr Vok, a five-leaved rose was broken over his coffin in the Třeboň church and the property passed to the Lords of Švamberk for several years. However, due to their disobedience to the emperor, the castle was confiscated from them at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War and was subsequently mismanaged by the imperial curia. It was not until 1660 that the castle and the estate came into the hands of the new owners, the Counts and later Princes of Schwarzenberg. Perhaps because Třeboň was their first permanently held property in Bohemia, they held the town and the countryside in high esteem. They kept the memory of the Rosenberg era alive and never turned the chateau into a representative residence, but it became a purely private place for them, where the family regularly gathered to celebrate the Christmas holidays between 1895 and 1922. The uniqueness of the town is also due to the choice of the Schwarzenbergs' final resting place. In addition to the fact that the wife of the first Czech Schwarzenberg was buried in the crypt of the Dean's Church of St. Jilja, a monumental neo-Gothic tomb with a chapel and crypt was built in the 19th century near the place where Count Jan Adolf I was first welcomed before entering the newly purchased town.