Chateau in Vršovice – Historic Manor estate on 4 acres by the Ohře River

We are offering a unique château estate in Vršovice, spanning a total area of 1.6 hectares. The Vršovice Chateau, together with its agricultural buildings, is located in the southern part of the village of Vršovice (Louny district), set in a picturesque bend of the Ohře River. Constructed in the first half of the 17th century, it is a registered cultural monument. The entire property, including greenery and built-up areas, covers 15,805 m², with the château’s floor area approximately 2,600 m² and the agricultural buildings about 2,500 m². 

Historical records first mention a fortress on this site in 1419. The fortress stood on an island surrounded by branches of the Ohře River, which formed part of its fortifications. This watercourse has been preserved east of the château to this day. 

The Vršovice Château was built in the 1620s, remodeled and restored in 1735–36, and repaired in 1871. The manor house features a four-winged layout centered around a square courtyard. 

Above the main gates of the château, dating from the early 17th century, is the carved alliance coat of arms of Volf Ilbruk of Vřesovice and his wife Eliška Berková of Dubá, along with the date 1628, marking the completion of construction. Above this is the Schwarzenberg family crest. The entrance is crowned by a turret with a Baroque cupola. The arched stepped gables on both corners of the façade reflect a late Renaissance style from that period. 

The château was built solidly, predominantly using sandstone blocks, with some sections of rubble masonry. The courtyard arcades and vaults of the northern and western wings (now partly collapsed) were completed with brickwork during the Baroque reconstruction. 

The entrance passage and ground-floor rooms in the northern wing are vaulted with barrel vaults. Small rooms to the right of the passage once served as the gatehouse and jail. According to descriptions from 1663, there were originally eight rooms on the ground floor, including the still well-preserved unique black kitchen, and three vaulted cellars underground. The underground icehouse, used to store ice year-round for food preservation, remains accessible. The upper floor comprised a hallway, chamber and storage room, a living room with pantry, a cabinet, a large dining room, and the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which projects architecturally from the façade. The stucco ceilings were decorated with frescoes. Behind the dining room were several unfinished and unfurnished chambers. Under the shingle roof were nine rooms for the servants.

In the 18th century, between 1735 and 1736, owner Ludvík Jiří of Baden expanded the château, divided the old palace, furnished all 22 chambers with new furniture, and renovated the entire estate.

Many remarkable original features have been preserved, including early Baroque doors, wooden ceilings, floors and staircases, timber framing, carved wooden window frames, and some interior and exterior plasterwork with remnants of stucco decoration on the upper floor.

The courtyard, formerly entered through a now non-existent gate, is surrounded by farm buildings. The large building with Baroque gables on the left side of the entrance underwent partial reconstruction. Opposite stands the granary, built mainly from sandstone rubble and bricks. The window frames are wooden and profiled, and the interior space is divided on the ground floor by vaulted arches and on the upper floors by masonry pillars.

The current château replaced an earlier fortress first documented in 1419. A significant transformation occurred in 1622 when the estate was purchased by Volf Ilburk of Vřesovice, who converted the fortress into the château and placed his alliance coat of arms above the main portal. Since then, the property changed hands several times, including ownership by the Lobkowicz and Černín-Baden families. From the late 18th century, the château ceased to serve as a residential seat. Both the Badens and later the Schwarzenbergs primarily used the estate as a hunting lodge for pheasant shooting, with the surrounding lands serving as hunting grounds. The Schwarzenbergs owned the château until 1924 when it was converted into a residual farm as part of the land reform. After 1945, the château became property of the local national committee in Vršovice, which established apartments there and allowed agricultural use of the estate. By the late 1980s, the château was largely vacant and freely accessible. Since 1989, the property has been privately owned.