Měšice Castle
Měšice Castle is situated in Tábor, Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic, about 2 km from the "Tábor Infocenter" along the Chýnov - Pelhřimov road.
History
Over its 450-year history, the design of the castle has changed and evolved according to the times, tastes, requirements and finances of successive aristocrats. The immediate environs of the castle is known as the Castle Park.
The owners
In 1545, the knight Prokop of Hejlovec built a Renaissance style manor house in the village of Měšice (today, this area is an outlying district of Tábor). During this time, the villages of Měšice, Čekanice and Stoklasná Lhota all belonged to the Prokop family of Hejlovec.
John Joseph Caretto, the Count of Mellisimo, rebuilt the manor house in 1699 as a Baroque Castle. In 1792, John Hannygar of Eberg built special water toilets in the Baroque Castle. These water toilets, still work today. In 1817, John Schmidgräber of Lusteneg enlarged the building and, in the Empire style, installed an ostentatious staircase and recreated the facade of the castle.
After 1877, the castle belonged to the Nádherný family (barons) of Borutín. Since 1997, the castle has been the property of Jan Berwid-Buquoy.
Special exhibitions
The Castle at Tábor-Měšice is also the seat of the Czech Institute For International Meetings, which was founded in 2000 and its President is Jan Berwid-Buquoy.
- "John F. Kennedy and His Times" - Policy, Economy (American historical shares belonging to well known personalities, for example Kennedy, Nixon, Presley and Dean) and Social affairs of the 40s, 50s and 60s in the United States.
- "Konrad Adenauer - Politician, European and Humanist" - An exhibition about the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- "The Occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet army on 21st August 1968" - Photos, stories and weapons.
Points of interest
The Tábor-Měšice castle is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day for groups of 5 persons (minimum). The tour includes, "Living and working in the Castle today". Visitors will also see the furniture that was owned by well-known personalities such Aristide Briand, Winston Churchill, Jan Masaryk, Pierre Trudeau, Jan Bervida and others.
Bibliography
- Cikhart, Roman: "Táborsko", Tábor 1921.
- Pourová, Renata: "Hrady, zámky a tvrze, které přežily rok 2000 - Jihočeský kraj" (Castles, Chateaux and Fortresses Extant in the Year 2000 - The Region of Southern Bohemia), ISBN 80-239-7724-5, České Budějovice 2006.