Czech Republic Guide
South Bohemia
Třeboň zámek
Opening time: April– Oct Tues– Sun 9am– noon & 1–4pm; June– Aug closes 5.15pm; out of season call
Out of all proportion to the rest of the town is the huge Renaissance zámek, built by Petr Vok, a colourful character, notoriously fond of sex, drugs and alchemy, friend of the mad Emperor Rudolf II, legendary thrower of parties, and the last heir of the Rožmberk family. The chateau, daubed in blinding white sgraffito and taking up almost a fifth of the town, is a pretty clumsy affair, but the interior is definitely worth visiting. There's a choice of three 45-minute guided tours: best go for trasa A (60Kč), which concentrates on Petr Vok and the chateau's Renaissance legacy. The Baroque and nineteenth-century period furniture imported by the later owners, the Schwarzenbergs, forms the bedrock of trasa B (80Kč), while trasa C (50Kč) focuses on the stables, dungeons and the unusual dogs' kitchen. For a guided tour in English, you'll need to ring ahead and pay 80–100Kč extra. Next to the chateau and equal in size to the old town is a very pleasant "English park", where the town's spa patients can take a stroll (daily dawn– dusk).