Castle Knezice

The Knezice Castle is located in the Bohemian Forest in the Czech Republic. The fortress from the 16th century was, in the beginning of the 18th century, rebuilt to a baroque chateau. In the year 1906, the baroque chateau was redesigned in art nouveau style by architect Leopold Bauer, the student of Otto Wagner in Vienna and later, in 1913, successor to Otto Wagner as professor of modern architecture at Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.

We organize classical concerts and salons with different topics – music, literature, architecture, and philosophy. Our complex projects are Art Nouveau & Now, where we focus on art nouveau from different perspectives and connect this period with the contemporary; Beethoven & Now – Beethoven’s Piano sonatas; and Schubert & Now – op.100 as an inspiration of Czech, Swiss and German contemporary composers.

As a part of the community we hold the Easter and Christmas markets with Czech folk traditions and with medieval European music and dances. The musicians sing in Old Czech, German, Old French, Old German, and Latin.

We are trying to present our house as part of European culture heritage and connect the topics and its explanations to children, students, and the public as a place of importance of cultural heritage in our lives in the past, present, and future.