COLLOREDO
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MANSFELD
H A E C P E P E R I T V I R T U S
Friedrich, Josef, Hieronymus
Castle History The Opocno Castle was first mentioned in the Chronicle of Cosmas in 1115. • The representative Renaissance seat was built on the site of a former Gothic castle by Vilem Trcka of Lipa between 1560 and 1569. • Emperor Ferdinand sold the Opocno estate to the Colloredos in 1635. • after a large fire on the upper floors, Jeronym Colloredo rebuilt part of the chateau in a fine Baroque style. Two outstanding architects of that time were active in Opocno, G. B. Alliprandi and G. B. Santini (1696-1718). in the beginning of 1800 english parks became very popular in Europe and Opocno was no exception and an Romantic park with about 20ha was founded in the valley below the castle. • In 1896, a valuable picture gallery was transferred to Opocno by Joseph Il Colloredo-Mansfeld. The picture gallery, started by Frantisek Colloredo in the late 18th century, was initially placed at Dobling near Vienna, and later moved to Prague. Today's exhibition features works by Carravagio, Cranach, Brandel, Rubens, del Sarto , Cignaroli and a possible Hieronymus Bosch. • Joseph's ethnographic collections from 1901-1905 are also exhibited on the ground floor of the chateau. Some of the Places he visited were Sudan, Alaska and Wyoming. • Another of Opocno's attractions is an armory featuring Europes largest private weaponry from the 16th to the 19th century , including oriental weapons even the worlds smalles still functioning duelle pistols. • The Colloredo-Mansfelds owned the Estate until 1942, and in 2003 won a lengthy restitution case to renew their ownership.
