Hauenštejn Castle
The castle lies about 3 km to the northwest of Stráž nad Ohří in the area of Krásný Les village in the region of Karlovy Vary. It was probably founded by the Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II in the 2nd half of the 13th century. For long centuries it used to be a small castle constructed in an old mountain style with half-timbered walls and high gables, above which a round tower protruded. A large number of possessors held the castle and its surroundings with a small domain during the course of history. In 1320 the castle came from the hands of the king John of Luxemburg into the possession of Mikuláš Winkler, the bailiff of the Loket-domain. Since then the owners changed with amazing speed here. The castle was over and over mortgaged to members of the Bohemian gentry or to various orders and every few years it came again into the property of the Bohemian kings. Only the families of Sataner, Schlick, Saxon-Lauenburg and Baden held it a bit longer. Later Hauenštejn became a part of the royal property again and over the Tuscan grand duke Ferdinand III, the brother of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, it came in 1839 for 400,000 gulden into the hands of the count family of Longueval-Buquoy. The family held the castle until 1945.
Soon after buying the domain, countess Gabrielle of Buquoy began an adaptation of the whole area in the style of English Gothic Revival. The famous English castles Windsor, Arundel, Belvoir or Lancaster could have served as models as well as colleges, e.g. Oxford. The surrounding and the valley became a romantic park, built on the axes of the castle buildings. From the terrace of the Knight Chamber, the park ran through the whole valley that should resemble a romantic English countryside with clever views back to the castle and to its area. A terrace garden with an orangery bellow the chapel was a part of the park, too. Today the arboretum lies here. On the esplanade there stood such buildings as an inn or a target range; the park used to hide even a lawn tennis court in itself. A cascade of small fishponds with romantic stone bridges was built on the stream. Everything was done with the final goal in the mind, which was a complex adaptation of a free countryside by the rules of English romantic architecture.
Today the non-profit company Horní hrad o. p. s. takes care of the castle and its area. We want to save the castle and return its former architectonic and cultural value to it. Various notables of the region of Karlovy Vary support our work, e.g. local MPs or senators. We have found friends in Germany and made a partnership with a few non-profit companies in Saxony and in Bavaria.
And now a look into the future: Our goal is to restore the castle into its romantic form that is noticeable even today. The restored castle, as well as its area, will then be used for needs of a regional culture centre. The centre, however, will focus not only on regional topics but on international cultural cooperation in Central European context as well.
On more than 300 m2, we shall establish expositions on archaeological, historical, geological and scientific topics; further a school centre for regional and international education. We would like to hold theatre and music festivals in the concert hall of the conservatory, e.g. festivals of romantic music of the 19th century. The countryside here allows events for painters and other artists. We also plan various days of historical crafts, festivals of books, happenings, exhibitions, auctions etc.
In the meantime, the castle and its surrounding can serve as a discreet place for business, diplomatic and private meetings. We are going to establish an honest place for presentation of all our patrons. The visitors to the castle can walk through the whole area of the valley, which should be restored to its former romantic form with small fishponds, paths and bridges, views of the castle, orchards and gardens. The near arboretum with hundreds of exotic trees and with the pseudo-Gothic chapel is a European rarity.
It is clear that our goal, which is quite unique in these times, is very demanding and must be achieved step by step as well. The first one was to open the tower to the public, which followed a strenuous reconstruction. The second one will be to restore the eastern part of the castle with the gate. If we continue having a good luck, it should be open to the public in spring 2004. We want to stress that we are open to every idea concerning the future usage of the whole area of Hauenštejn.
Finally, we would like to encourage everybody who is interested in our project of saving and restoring the castle to help us in any way: Do it! The form is up to you and we shall gladly accept it, be it information, thingy help, voluntary work or financial help. We can consult the possibility of two-way cooperation or you can even become one of our general partners.