Old Castle Libějovice
The Renaissance castle was originally a Gothic fortress built in 1352.
The earliest mention of Libějovice dates back to 1264, when the village belonged to Tomáš of Libějovice. In 1389, Dobeš of Libějovice is recorded. Around the mid-14th century, the Malovec family settled in Libějovice and are credited with building the Gothic fortress. In 1559, the property was purchased by Vilém of Rožmberk, who had it rebuilt into a four-winged Renaissance chateau. Later, Libějovice passed to Count Jan Zrinský and, after his death in 1612, to Jan Jiří of Švamberk. After the Battle of White Mountain, King Ferdinand II in 1623 granted the confiscated Libějovice estate to General Count Charles Bonaventure Buquoy. In 1651, Countess Marie Magdaléna Buquoy purchased the Čichtice estate. In 1801, the Libějovice estate was bought by the Schwarzenbergs, but under their ownership, the castle underwent no significant alterations. In 1775, part of the moat surrounding the castle was still preserved. According to an 1800 description, the ground floor housed a school (still present in 1861), while the upper floor held the estate office and officials’ apartments. In 1805, consolidation works were approved to prevent wall settling. Minor modifications followed in 1831 (for residential use) and in 1875 (walls reinforced with iron braces).
The old Libějovice castle is a two-story, four-winged building with a central courtyard, remnants of a defensive moat and rampart. The northern entrance façade and the northeast corner oriel feature scalloped Renaissance gables. The castle entrance includes a Gothic gateway and a slot for a drawbridge in the protruding northern tower. The passageway and most rooms in the complex layout retain Gothic and Renaissance arcades. Gothic portals are preserved in rare instances.
The ancient Renaissance castle environment attracted the well-known Vodňany literary trio — Julius Zayer, František Herites, and Otakar Mokrý — for occasional visits.
