In Holešov, the repairs of the roofs and facades of the castle have been completed after three years

Holešov - The Holešov Town Hall has completed the repairs of the roofs and facades of its castle, which began in 2014. Workers are taking down the scaffolding from the southeast side of the castle this week, which was the last part to be addressed in the reconstruction. The complete restoration of the facades and roofing cost approximately 70 million crowns, said Jana Rohanová, spokesperson for the town hall, today to ČTK.

"During the replacement of the roofing, nearly a quarter of a million roof tiles were used. The work also included the renovation of the courtyard and the historic stone portal and tympanum with the coat of arms on the facade of the castle," said Stanislav Julíček from the town hall's Department of Construction, Development, and the Environment. The coat of arms of the Counts of Vrbno was created at the end of the 19th century from the then fashionable material called kurovina, which consists of high-quality limestone from a nearby quarry in Kurovice.

Workers, craftsmen, and restorers also took care of repairing the stone surrounds and creating replicas of the original baroque windows.

A document from the roofers of the time was discovered 100 years after the previous repairs to the castle. Additionally, during the restoration of the building's exterior shell, original early baroque plaster from the mid-17th century was uncovered. It is located at the level of the second floor of the castle, primarily from the entrance, or southwest side of the monument-protected building.

Thanks to the restorers, approximately 350-year-old plasters, which were likely worked on by Italian stonemasons and plasterers in the 17th century, have been preserved. "Such old plasters are hardly visible anywhere, even on historic buildings. Most of the time they have been replaced with new ones multiple times during that period," noted Julíček.

The Renaissance castle was established in 1574 on the site of a former Gothic manor from the 15th century, a part of which has been preserved in the castle to this day. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, the castle was plundered and burned by the Swedes. It was in such a state that in 1651, Jan Count of Rottal purchased it, commissioning its reconstruction in the spirit of early baroque, which was managed by the imperial architect Filiberto Luchese. It was completed before 1674.

The last significant construction changes to the castle occurred during the late classicism period, in the mid-19th century. In 1948, the castle was nationalized, and in 1992 it was restituted to a private owner. The town hall then bought the building in 2005 for 13.4 million. Of the approximately 400 million crowns invested in repairs so far, over 100 million crowns came from subsidies.

The town has previously repaired and opened the basement, ground floor, and first floor of the castle. The courtyard and part of the garden have also been renovated. The second floor of the castle is conserved, and the costs for its repair are in the tens of millions of crowns. The castle hosts exhibitions and concerts, the basement houses a music club, and the courtyard and garden are used for various events, including festivals.