Červená Lhota castle stands at the middle of a lake on a rocky island. Its picturesque Renaissance building is a destination of thousands of tourists every year. Its name Červená Lhota meaning 'red lhota' can be explained by the colour of the château's bright-red roof tiles. There is also a park, where the Chapel of the Holy Trinity is located.

The existence of an original fortress on the site of today's château is assumed from sometime around the middle of the 14th century. It was built on a rocky granite outcrop, which, after the damming of a stream and the filling up of a fishpond, became an island. The first written source is an entry into the land records from 1465, mentioning the division of the property of deceased Ctibor of Zásmuk between his two sons Petr and Václav. The fortress then might have been sold into the ownership of Diviš Boubínský of Újezd, who sold it to the knightly family of Káb of Rybňan sometime around 1530. The family had the original Gothic castle rebuilt and the basic Renaissance remodelling carried out between 1542-1555, and the château acquired the name Nová Lhota. In 1597, the château was sold to Vilém Růt of Dírná who had the building rendered with red plaster, from which it got its name Červená Lhota. The last of the Ruts, Bohuslav, had to leave the Bohemian lands as an Utraquist after the Battle of White Mountain.

In 1621, Červená Lhota was inhabited by Antonio Bruccio, who died in 1639 without an heir. With his death, Lhota lost its function as a residence and it was used by his successors as occasional cottage. In 1641, it was acquired by aristocrat Vilém Slavat of Chlum and Košumberk and later it passed into the hands of the Windischgrätz family. Bedřich Arnošt Windischgrätz and his son Leopold dragged the dominion into great debts due to their out-dated style of economics, so the custodian of his under-aged successor Josef recommended the sale of the dominion. In 1755 the château then was obtained by the free lords of Gudenus. Franz de Paul, free lord of Gudenus, shortly afterwards initiated several constructions, which were brought to an abrupt halt in 1774 by a great fire, which destroyed essentially all agricultural buildings.

In 1776, Červená Lhota welcomed a new owner, Baron Ignác Stillfried, a progressive aristocrat of Prussian Silesia whose son sold the dominion to Jakub Veith in 1820. His daughter Terezie sold the château again in 1835, this time into the princely hands of Heinrich Eduard Schönburg-Hartenstein who gave the castle to his son Josef Alexandr Schönburg-Hartenstein. He died in 1937 and was buried into the newly built tomb, and thus spared the destructive events of the new war, which drew the curtains closed for the entire aristocratic history of Červená Lhota château.

After the confiscation of the château by the Czechoslovak state in 1946, a children's clinic was established here. However, a year later, the château was granted to a National Culture Commission, and in 1949 it was opened to the public.




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Founded: 1542-1555
Category: Castles and fortifications in Czech Republic


4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Matyas Aviation (3 months ago)
Beautiful castle But nothing is around The castle area is very pretty but there’s not much going on around The castle itself is very beautiful tho You can park a 2 minute walk from the castle for like 20kč ( 0,8€ ) The lake you see in pretty much all the pictures is currently without all it’s water due to technical reasons
Pavel Balon (5 months ago)
The castle itself is very nice from outside as well as from inside. In July 2021 it is still missing the water in its lake which surounds it so it is missing its magic. The parking is near and it costs 60 Kč for whole day but it is very unlikely you would spend whole day there or in its surroundings. So it is a bit of rip-off.
Roman Challet (12 months ago)
50 minutes to go there. Almost got arrested by the cops to realize that there wasn't any water !!!! Can you put back the water please, it's not because there isn't a lot of tourists that you are supposed to dry the lake...
Christian Lachawitz (15 months ago)
They guide you to paid parking, but 10 m further is free parking
Jonathan Curry (16 months ago)
Lovely old chateau. The main attraction is probably the colour and the lake so it's important to note that the lake is almost dry this year, they have drained it for some reason. That doesn't have to be a bad thing though, come and enjoy the rare view of a stream winding through tall grass towards the chateau, might not see it again for many years
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