Chateau Reconstruction
A fortress rebuilt into a chateau in the midst of a farming estate and chateau park, about 1,5 km northwest of Vinoř.
The first not entirely certain mention of Ctěnice dates back to 1235 and in 1273 it was already owned by the Strahov monastery. The oldest mention of the fortress is from 1372, when the burgher Jan Zeiselmeier bought it from the widow of another burgher, Volflin Galm. For its further development the period of ownership of Hrzánovi z Harasova (1502-1572) was significant. In the 17thcentury Ctěnice belonged to the families Boryňovi ze Lhoty, the Valdštejns and Losyové z Losinthalu who owned it until 1871. The last family who significantly shaped the face of the estate was the Windischgrätz family (until the beginning of the 19th century) who inherited Ctěnice after the death of the childless Adam Filip Losa (21 April 1781).
The two-storey building of the chateau has the shape of an irregular pentagon and is formed by wings that enclose a small courtyard. At the front there is a monumental three-storey entry gate with a low triangular gable and a baroque cupola with a lantern. The facades on the moat side have a high slant base. All facades have a flat late baroque segmentation with lesenes. On the tower and on the north facade of the chateau the remains of a sgrafitto are visible. The basement of the north wing has a barrel vault and can only be entered through a late Gothic portal. A Gothic pillar of the original flat ceiling was preserved here. In the interiors there are otherwise barrel vaults with wedges, Bohemian vaults and flat ceilings. The perimeter ramparts, the north and the west wings and the tower are originally Gothic. The other wings were added during the renaissance and late baroque reconstructions. Ctěnice is among the 14th century fortresses with a more varied layout. The tower gate was probably a late Gothic addition.
The mediaeval fortress in Ctěnice was founded in the northern part of a prolonged promontory situated above a shallow valley of the left tributary of today’s Vinořský Stream. This location was advantageous because of the possibility of diverting the stream into the moat that was chiselled into the sandstone bedrock. Since mediaeval times the fortress has been protected by a robust prism-shaped tower reinforced by a block corner armature. The original fortress was connected with the courtyard by means of a drawbridge which was later replaced by a single vault brick bridge.
The wings of the chateau surround the central courtyard and have an uneven ground plan. The uneven terrain was levelled out by basements that were partially chiselled into the bedrock. The core of the oldest Gothic fortress was situated in the basement of the north wing. An impressive detail preserved from those times is a block pillar under the cellar vault that supported the bearer of the original beam roof. An interesting find is also a well, made of stone blocks in a cellar in the southeastern part. The basic layout and a significant part of the construction dates back to a late Gothic reconstruction under the ownership of the family Hrzán z Harasova.
In renaissance times further partitions were added to the late Gothic layout, the position of windows was changed so as to give the facade a regular rhythm and thus let the structure of the construction come to the fore. The most significant contribution of these times are the renaissance paintings of exceptional quality on the first floor, the stone window jambs and new vaulting on the ground floor and in the basement.
The renaissance reconstruction gave the Gothic fortress a representative chateau residence look especially by adding a new architectonic segmentation, sgrafitti decorations on all gables, murals in the interiors and various crafted details that have been preserved to the present day.
Baroque times respected the original layout of the first floor with its renaissance additions. The floor levels were changed and the ceilings were lowered and thus also the lintels of the doors were lowered. The most significant baroque contributions were the arcades and baroque design for the facades. The baroque arcades with segmented strips on voluminous consoles and halfpillars significantly enriched the older buildings. The original renaissance layout was thus significantly expanded because the dwelling or working space of the chateau was enlarged. The interiors were decorated with valuable contemporary paintings. Baroque stucco decorations of hall ceilings were preserved. Baroque times most significantly changed the interiors of the basement and of the ground floor because a large number of the rooms on the ground floor and a part of the basement were newly vaulted. Important craft details from the epoch include the work of ironsmiths and locksmiths (door and window hinges and window ironwork).
In the first half of the 19th century the attic room and the attic staircase were refurbished and on the first floor several doors received classicist jambs with contemporary ironwork. The entry to the main staircase in the thoroughfare was also remade in the classicist style. On the ground floor the partitions were built up under the vaults, but the original layout was more or less respected.
The chateau underwent more significant renovations in the second half of the 19th century when new doors and scuntion windows changed the original face of the chateau. New murals in the interiors were also added. Most probably in this time the arcades were walled up. The cellars remained virtually untouched in this period.
With the exception of small utility alterations and unsuitable instalments, no significant changes to the chateau were recorded in the 20th century.
Photogallery
