Hidden Stories of Private Historic Houses: Castle Blatná - YouTube

Hello and welcome to Castle Blatna!

We find ourselves an hour south of Prague in one of only three water castles in the

Czech Republic.

My name is Stephanos Germenis-Hildprandt and I am very pleased to be taking you around

this beautiful place today.

First mention of the structure dates back to the 13th century whereas the tower that

you see behind me was built in the 14th century.

Additional palaces were added to the structure in subsequent centuries.

More about that in a bit.

We are in the baroque salon where we can see a portrait of my grandmother Cornelia who

grew up in the US and in Switzerland.

She was the daughter of a senior diplomat while she herself spent a large part of her

life working for the United Nations in Africa.

Following the confiscation of their property by the communist regime in the late 1940's,

the family eventually emigrated to Africa, and specifically to Ethiopia, where they settled

and lived for the next 20 years.

Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie was a friend of the family and facilitated their resettling

there.

While in Ethiopia, my grandmother Cornelia worked as a translator at the United Nations

in Addis Ababa, while my grandfather Friedrich who, when younger, studied at the Spanish

Riding School in Vienna, was given an advisory role by the emperor related to horse breeding.

We are in the hunting lounge which is inspired by my great grandfather Ferdinand Hildprandt

who was involved in politics as well as was a renowned hunter.

He was also a close friend of Franz Ferdinand d'Este, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Ferdinand had four sons: One was in the military, the next was a painter, then came a sculptor,

and the youngest, my grandfather, was given charge of the estate.

We are now in the Empire salon, famous for the Empire-style furniture it contains.

The furniture was a gift to my ancestor, a member of the royal court in Vienna, for having

accompanied Marie Louise from there to Paris for her to marry Napoleon.

We are on the 16th century loggia of the Rejt Palace which is my favourite place to be at

the castle mostly because of its views but also because of the stories it hides.

A lesser known claim to fame of the loggia is that of Ferdinand Hildprandt, my great-grandfather,

and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este, heir to the Austrian throne, shooting fallow deer

from here together during the latter's hunting visits to Blatna.

On the last such occasion and shortly before travelling to Sarajevo, the Archduke allegedly

shot an albino deer, an omen of bad luck in hunting lore.

And the rest is history.

We are now in the courtyard of the castle where you can see all four palaces that constitute

its full structure plus our café.

The castle complex consists of four palaces, each built at different times and each originally

in a different architectural style.

The first two palaces were built in the 14th and 15th centuries in Gothic style, followed

by another in renaissance, and the fourth in baroque.

So we are in the English park which was turned into an English park in the 19th century.

It's around 42 hectares large and is inhabited by a number of animals including our fallow

deer and Xeno here who likes playing with them from time to time.

Notable occupants and visitors to the castle ranged from the Templars, to numerous members

of European royalty and nobility, to even general George Patton at the end of the Second

World War.

We are at our Easter Market which is the first big event of the season.

We are planning many more markets this summer including a Prosecco festival, we're planning

a Lego exhibition, also night shows, a spectacular concert with fireworks in the park, as well

as an event with spectacular cars also in the park.

So come join the fun!