Palace

The building, originally surrounded by a 12m wide moat and accessible by three bridges, is now the seat of the Municipal Council and visitors can freely access the entrance hall, where murals of the last bears killed in the Krkonose can be seen besides the door with intarsia decorations. As the building works were underway, the palace park was conceived, to be redesigned later after a late 19th-century layout by a gardener named Fuchs. The palace chapel with the tomb of the House of Czernin-Morzin can be found not far from the park, hidden among the trees.

The Palace

The predecessor of the palace was a Gothic water fort. The palace was built in the Renaissance style near the location of the fort and became the manorial seat. It was originally designed as a high and long building, surrounded by a moat. The work was completed in 1546 and it became the seat of Krystof Gendorfer of Gendorf.

No major changes were made during the Baroque period, only new utility buildings were built. Another redesign came after 1830 when the residential quarters were renewed, the moat was filled, and an English-style park was gradually established.

The Vrchlabi palace is a three-storey building on a rectangular plan with four corner towers that have onion-shaped roofs. The entrance hall on the ground floor features preserved Renaissance portals, four doors with valuable intarsia decorations, and paintings of the last four bears caught in the Krkonose. The first floor, today used as the smaller meeting hall, houses a library with fine wooden decorations, doors decorated in intarsia, and a secret cabinet. A 3.5m high Renaissance faience stove has been preserved in the former Knights’ Hall on the second floor and is one of the oldest and most valuable items here.

Palace Park

The park was conceived at the time Vrchlabi Palace was built, originally as an ornamental garden which merged into open countryside. Today’s appearance of the park dates back to the 2nd half of the 19th century, when it was redesigned following a layout by gardener Fuchs into a Romantic-style landscape garden, eliminating the moat, establishing a pool and expanding the park to its current size in 1865. The park was declared a national heritage site.

The Czernin-Morzin Palace Chapel

The palace chapel, situated at the edge of the palace park and accessible originally via a wooden suspension bridge and today from Dobrovskeho St. near the headquarters of the National Park Administration, was built by Countess Aloysia Czernin-Morzin, the daughter of Rudolf Morzin, in 1887–1891. Aloysia’s husband Herman Czernin was buried in the tomb below the chapel in 1892, to be followed by Aloysia fifteen years later. Since World War Two, the chapel has been used as a prayer house of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.

The Palace and the Palace Chapel As Part of Guided Tours

Guided tours of Vrchlabi’s most interesting monuments which are otherwise usually inaccessible are available for groups of 2 to 20 persons every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. during the summer holidays. They start at the Regional Information Centre in the townhall on the main square. Outside the summer holidays, these tours are available for groups only upon prior arrangement.

Guided Tours

Virtual Tour of Vrchlabi Palace

Are you interested in seeing the interiors of the palace but can’t come to the site for any reason? An online guided tour of the palace has been made just for you! Come and see the surroundings and interior furnishings of the palace and learn about the purpose of each room, the historical milestones of the palace, and who created its present design. The mayor of the town will be your guide, and will also unveil some of his future plans. Are you interested? Come join us.