Konopiste castle

The first castle we visited was Konopiste.  It was first built in 1280 and underwent significant renovations over the centuries, some in Gothic, some in Baroque, some in Renaissance style.  The last inhabitant before it passed into state ownership was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in Sarejevo sparked WWI.

We got an extensive tour of 15 rooms in the castle that were filled with old furniture, paintings, sculptures, and a huge, impressive weapons collective and hunting trophies.  We were disappointed that no pictures were allowed (even without a flash), so I resorted to buying the requisite photo book at the end of the tour.  I really liked how the rooms were full enough to look lived in, but tastefully decorated so as not to feel like a museum cramming in every artifact it could without regard to how they look together in a room.   Our guide new a lot about the family line that lived in the castle.  In one room, she pointed out two chairs that had legs of different heights.  The rule of etiquette was that all people seated around a table had to be eye-height with each other, so some chairs were shorter than others to accommodate different heights.  The exterior of the castle was quite attractive.  It sits just above a lake.  Unfortunately we were not able to stop on the opposite side of the lake for pictures after the tour of the inside.

 Pretty garden area with statuary behind the castle

Lake below the castle - the guide said it was one of the first electrified castles in Europe because of a turbine generator that was hooked up to a water wheel where the water runs out of the lake into a stream.