CZ, Decin - Chateau: Jewel of Ceske Svycarsko - VIDEO

Decin Chateau is one of the most important landmarks of north Bohemia. Not long time ago, it received an award for high quality services. Actually, it works pretty well in the chateau. The town worked very hard to get there as many tourists as possible. At the upper chateau gate there even goes local public transportation .

This landmark is really beautiful. It lures tourists not only in the tourist season but every day of the year. The closest stop on a way to the town is the Holy Cross Ascension and Cross Gate . Formerly it was the only thing that connected the town with the chateau. The gate was built in 1672. Two coat of arms decorate it. One of them belongs to Maxmilian Thun. The second one to his first wife, Marie of Lordon. Thanks to various gates and a dark passageway is a walk in Decin a great adventure even today. Just imagine what must have happened around Cross Gate. It was the only entrance way to the chateau. As in its neighborhood changed information about life in the castle and beneath the castle and on the basis that further shaped the functioning of the city.

Today, the chateau is accessible via Bottom Gate. Through the 19th and 20th centuries it underwent renovations. Bottom Gate resembling a double Arc of the Triump . On it is a Thun’s coat of arms and coat of arms of his third wife, Maria of Preyssing.  

Long ride is a European uniqueness

Cross Gate’s size is of about an average man of the past. With the Great Gatee , they create chateau’s entrance. The Long Ride is called a way you have to walk when approaching the castle. This wide way is carved into the rock. It is unique in Europe. Along its length it is decorated with arcades. One feel its monumentality while walking through but also is curious about the chateau itself. Too bad the way is not paved. It has asphalt surface and it is split in the middle by a white interrupted line.

The Long Ride has several other stops – a birth place of Miroslav Tyrs, garden house or Pink Garden. The latter is worth an individual article thanks to its variety of flowers and beautiful views.

Steb by step in the chateau

Decin chateau has got two courtyards. The first of the separates the Long Ride from the rest of the building. Also, the bear moat used to be an obligatory stop on the way to the chateau. It was a time when you could get over it only by a drawbridge. Today, the visitors are safe from bears. There are none left. Today, two arched bridges cross the moat. One of the bridges replaced an old drawbridge and it turns to the stables. It is worth visiting baroque stables with many arches in the ceiling and many columns.

Finally we start talking about the castle itself. It stands on a cliff. The then builders used every bit of it. In the 10th century, there used to be a stronghold of the Premyslovci House. 300 years later, a castle was built there. Its purpose was to guard boats on the Elbe. First notes about the castle, or rather the Thuns, date to the 16th century. The same family rebuilt the castle to its present classicist look. 

There is lot to see at Decin chateau. Two guided trails show the visitors interiors or they show the visitors the life of chateau owners, or “Baroque gems”- The second trail lead tourists through everything baroque there – stables, Pink garden or former church of Holy Cross Ascention.

Text/photo/video: Klára Svobodová