The town of Mnichovo Hradiště is dominated by its fine baroque chateau, which is closely associated with the Valdštejn family. The chateau was acquired by the famous Bohemian general Albrecht of Valdštejn in 1623 during the Thirty Years War, but was then sold by Albrecht to his cousin Maximillian in 1627. Despite Albrecht’s fall from grace and assassination in 1634, the property remained in the hands of the Valdštejn family for the next three centuries, and became the seat of a large north Bohemian domain.

The chateau was first constructed in a renaissance style by Wenceslas Budovec in 1606. Budovec was involved in the Protestant Bohemian uprising that started the Thirty Years War. After the defeat of the Revolt in 1621, Budovec was executed and the property confiscated. This allowed Albrecht to purchase the chateau and its domain and add it to the large collection of north Bohemian properties he acquired in this decade, including most of the current Český ráj region.

There is no evidence of any major fortifications in Mnichovo Hradiště prior to the 17th century, but the town was established in the 13th century due to the growing importance of the 12th century Cistercian monastery located in the nearby Hradiště nad Jizerou. The domain of Mnichovo Hradiště probably fell within the ownership of the ubiquitous Markvartice-Vartenberg family in the 14th and early 15th centuries, but in 1420 the territory was taken over by the Hussite army, and the monastery burned down. Over the following two centuries the domain changed ownership several times, until finally landing in the hands of the Valdštejn family.

For more information: https://www.zamek-mnichovohradiste.cz/