Kolinec - Mlázovy - castle and castle park
Baroque castle - permanent exhibition
In 2021, to mark the 300th anniversary of the construction of the Baroque chateau, half of the ground floor was made available to the public. You can see the original vaulted spaces and the restored baroque black kitchen, which was not easy to restore and which could still serve its purpose today. The castle also houses an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Mlázov manor, examples of granite products of traditional stonework, you can look into an old school classroom and an interesting story of the last owner JUDr. Dušan Zachystal and his family.
Castle park open to the public
The castle's English park is also open to the public. The oldest trees are up to 300 years old. The linden tree in the lower part of the park has the largest trunk girth - over 5 m. Less common trees include Douglas-fir and Canadian hemlock. The most interesting tree in the park is the pinnate oak (Quercus robur v. filicifolia). Its shaggy leaves resemble ferns.
The park features a unique hand-carved bowling alley, which has cone-shaped columns and are each made of a different piece of wood marked with a tree symbol. A mini gallery of Šumava trees was thus created. The park also has a giant royal chair carved from a centuries-old oak tree. In the courtyard you can play giant chess hand-carved from linden wood, a giant checker and a man, don't be angry.
A brief history of the Mlázov manor
The first written mention of Mlázov comes from 1369. Sometime after that, a knightly family using the predicate "from Mlázov" settled in the village.
At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, Jan Mlázovský from Těšnice lived here, followed by his son Petr Mlázovský from Těšnice. During the following years, several owners changed, until the manor, including the springs of the mentioned fortress, was bought in 1591 by Jindřich Ladislav Tomek from Čejkov, and his descendants owned the manor for more than a hundred years. Jan Václav Příchovský from Příchovice was the master here for a short time.
In 1712, Jan Vilém Bernklau of Schonreith (also referred to as Pernklo of Šenrejt) bought the estate and in 1721 had a baroque castle built on the site of the fortress. Already in 1722, he dies and the castle is inherited by his married daughter Bergová from Berg, followed by her son and subsequently bought by his wife's relatives from the Dohalský family from Dohalice.
After that, several owners changed again, until in 1820 František Xaver bought the castle from Count Dey of Střítež. His son-in-law František Václav Veith bought the estate from him. During his tenure in the years 1829 – 1851, Mláz flourished, in 1834 he had a classicist parsonage and a school with a rich library, a poorhouse and also a classicist wing of the castle (today's boarding house) built. He was a great patriot. After his death, Bernard Kleist c.k. becomes the owner of the estate. military auditor, after the death of his father, the estate is taken care of by the Kleist siblings, this family owned the estate from 1851 to 1906.
From 1906 to 1919, the owner was Count JUDr. Jindřich Taaffe from Nalžov (the origin of the family is from Ireland), during his tenure roses from the castle greenhouses were sent all the way to Vienna to the imperial court and cheese was produced here. After the land reform, the owners changed again, and in 1937 the manor was bought by JUDr. Dušan Zachystal, general director of the Economic Association of Czechoslovak cotton spinning mills. He moved to Mlázov in 1938 with his wife Amália and daughter Dagmar. After Hitler came to power in Germany, he actively participated in the diversion of cotton trades so that they would not go through Germany, thus depriving them of their profits. Due to this fact, he was wanted by the Gestapo and arrested in 1942. He successively passed through six concentration camps as a political prisoner. He returned to Mlázov in August 1945. He was able to sell the castle before nationalization and worked in Prague as an ordinary clerk until his retirement, his daughter Dagmar lives in Canada.
From 1947 until 2000, the castle was owned by the municipality of Mlázovy and later by the municipality of Kolinec. From 2000 to the present, the owner is Šperl, spol. s.r.o., a family company based in Sušice.
In 2005 (after approx. 50 years), it was possible to unite the entire area of the castle, which was divided between many owners after 1948. In 2006-2007, the northern wing of the castle was renovated into a guesthouse. In recent years, work has been gradually underway on the reconstruction of the Baroque castle, and an exhibition was created in the ground floor in 2021.
