Kynžvart Castle
Chancellor Metternich's neoclassical chateau, home to a world-class cabinet of curiosities and a vast landscape park. Its daguerreotype collection is inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
Photo: VitVit · CC BY-SA 4.0At a glance
Drive time
~15 min by car
Distance
~8 km
Time on site
1.5–3 h
Effort
easy
Good for
About the place
The chateau owes its neoclassical appearance to the Viennese architect Pietro Nobile, who rebuilt it in the 1820s and 1830s for Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, the most powerful diplomat of his age. Metternich filled Kynžvart with gifts from monarchs and curiosities from around the world: Egyptian mummies, rare manuscripts, coins and natural specimens that still form one of Europe's most remarkable cabinets of curiosities.
Guided tours pass through state rooms and the chateau library of tens of thousands of volumes; the daguerreotype collection has been inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register since 2017. The vast English park with its ponds and avenues is freely accessible all year — and with a stroller or a dog it makes one of the loveliest level walks near the spa.
