Konopiště, - Central Bohemia Region

Konopiště is a romantic chateau with a large park, rose garden, greenhouses, orangerie and shooting range situated in the Benešov area in central Bohemia, about 40 km south from Prague. The Konopiště castle was founded as a Gothic fortress probably in the 13th century. Later it was reconstructed in as a Baroque chateau. The chateau became particularly famous as the last seat of František Ferdinand d´Este, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire, whose assassination in Sarajevo was the trigger for the outbreak of theFirst World War. He bought the chateau in 1887 and began a Romantic reconstruction of the property.

Inside the chateau there are rich collections of artistic and technical articles in the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods and also from new age. Thanks to these large collections, Konopiště is one of the most interesting chateaus in central Europe. The armory and collection of clerical antiquities related to Saint George, the knight patron, are particularly worth seeing.