! On Sunday and Monday 29 and 30 December 2024 the castle will be open with Christmas decorations !
Exhibitions and collections
The interiors of the chateau have undergone many modifications over the centuries. Their appearance and furnishings changed with the tastes and needs of the noble owners. Nevertheless, many interiors of high quality and refined style have been preserved in the Opočno chateau.
The last reinstallation of the collections took place at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. With the 2022 visitor season, the second floor of the castle, which for many years served as a depository for furniture, paintings, weapons, crockery, etc., was opened.
Sightseeing routes include:
1st floor of the castle: the African Hall, bathroom, bedroom, salon and study of the Prince, dining room, representative salon, playroom, bathroom, dressing room, bedroom and salon of the Princess, bedroom and salon of Jerome, bedroom and salon of Bertha, breakfast room, small and large picture room, library and guest suite of the family of Prince Rudolf Kinsky.
2nd floor of the castle: Ernestine Caroline's room, the bathroom, dressing room and bedroom of the Trauttmansdorff family, the Mantua room, the dressing room and guest suite of the Schönburg-Hartenstein family, the governess's room, the maid's room, the rooms of Friedrich, Weikhard, Jerome Jr. and Joseph Jr.
The unique feature of the Opočno Chateau is undoubtedly its extensive collection of historical weapons and armour, one of the most important in the Czech Republic.
At the end of the 19th century, the new owner of the castle, Prince Joseph II. Colloredo - Mannsfeld concentrated his extensive collection of weapons in two halls on the second floor of the castle (the Knights' and Hunting Halls). The collection contains more than 2,000 exhibits, making it one of the largest collections of weapons in Czech castles.
Among the most valuable exhibits of the collection are firearms; works of renowned gunsmiths (Kuchenreiter, Zellner, Cominazzo, Poser, Lebeda, Nowotný, Procházka, etc.) in the hunting hall. A number of quality specimens are represented by hunting fangs, as well as crossbows from the Renaissance era, late Gothic spears and trophies of hunted game.
The largest collection of European military weapons is concentrated in the Knights' Hall. The armour of noble and mercenary armour, cords of Toledo or Solingen production, dagger muskets, pistols from the 16th century, a collection of execution swords of German and French provenance and much more.
You can see the collection of historical weapons when you visit the 2nd floor of the castle.
PHOTOGALLERY OF WEAPON COLLECTIONS
In 1895 the Colloredo-Mansfeld collection of paintings was concentrated in Opočno. Its history dates back to the 18th century, the catalogue compiled in 1929 contains 471 items. Two rooms, recently reinstalled in the spirit of the original layout, contain mainly Baroque Italian works. Thanks to the collecting passion of its last owners, Opočno boasts works by masters such as Giacomo del Po and Andrea Vaccaro.
Important paintings include, for example, a double-sided canvas (from around 1700) of the Madonna with the Baby Jesus, the Cross and St. Stephen, and on the reverse side the Virgin Mary Protectress by the painter Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, the Madonna with the Child and the Little John the Baptist related to the Florentine Andrea del Sarto, Christ among the Scholars by the follower of Hieronymus Bosch, the Renaissance tomb painting The Epitaph of Žerotín from 1575 depicting Barbara of Bibrštejn and Jan Jetřich of Žerotín in the interior of the church of Opočno located in front of the castle and many others.
You can see the collection of paintings during a tour of the 1st floor of the chateau.
PHOTOGALLERY OF COLLECTIONS OF PAINTINGS
The tour also includes ethnographic collections (located in the African Hall and the family museum) acquired mainly by purchase during the adventurous travels of the castle owner, Prince Joseph II. Colloredo-Mannsfeld; among other things, exhibits from the "Mahdist uprising" in Sudan, trophies of African and North American game (lions, leopards, buffalo, antelopes or bears), clothing, pottery and basketry of the Indians, objects of daily use of African tribes.
PHOTOGALLERY OF ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS
Other...
...the 10,000 volumes of the Colloredo-Mannsfeld Library, the collections of historical glass and porcelain, and the rooms that show the culture of living, especially the furnishings, the guest rooms.