Moravský Krumlov, Chateau

Moravský Krumlov, (German: Mährisch Kromau), is located thirty kilometers south-west of Brno on the River Rokytná. The river’s meanders offered good opportunities for settlement, which is why a district castle was built there. It was destroyed and burned down after 1146 as part of the struggles between two members of the House of Přemysl – Prince Vladislav and Prince Conrad, the appanage prince of Znojmo. The castle was rebuilt to a Renaissance chateau under the ownership of the House of Lipá who minded the development of the town in the 16th century. After the Battle of Bílá Hora, the House of Lipá was deprived of its property which was forfeited by the emperor Ferdinand II. sold Moravský Krumlov to the House of Liechtenstein in 1625. When Prince Rudolf Lichtenstein died in 1908, his relative Count Kinsky took possession of Krumlov. Moravský Krumlov became a part of Germany in 1938 thanks to the politics of Rudolf Kinsky, an admirer of the Nazi policy, even though the town’s German population accounted for just about one-third of the citizens. The Kinsky family fled the chateau to Austria in 1945. The town’s historical nucleus was severely damaged at the end of the World War II, yet it was later declared an urban heritage site. In 1950 the town was loaned the Slavic Epopee paintings made by the native of the nearby Ivančice, Alfons Mucha.