Konopiště Castle – Guns, Antlers, and a Missing Bear

Fall has arrived in the Czech Republic! All the Praguers we know keep telling us to enjoy it while it lasts. Apparently, Prague’s winter is cold and very grey. Everyone seems to fear the cold here. For those who really know us, you are aware that we like the cold better than the extreme heat, so we aren’t too worried about the winter. (Phil may tell you I only like 67-75 degree weather, but I would beg to differ!) I am probably jinxing us as I write, but so far, our weather has been fairly cooperative. Our typical fall days have been cold/cool in the mornings and evenings, but warm and usually sunny during the day. Last Saturday might have been the perfect fall day – clear blue skies, bright sunshine, and that crisp fall air that makes you want to get out of the city and go on a field trip. So we did just that and spent the day at Konopiště, a castle about 40 miles southeast of Prague.

Phil and I boarded a train bright and early for Benešov, the town closest to Konopiště. Our new friend, Dave joined us for the trip on just a few hours sleep. As a Red Sox fan, he had been awake in the wee hours of the morning watching game 1 of the ALCS. (I know, I know, but he and I are still friends.) He is also a Fulbright and a mathematician (translation: Dave does something with numbers that we don’t understand.) After an hour on the train, we had a 2 km walk to the castle (zámek in Czech). While the town of Benešov is nothing to write home about, here is a photo of the landscape just outside Benešov. The leaves are just starting to change colors here. While this particular photo doesn't do it justice, you can see a lot of fabulous yellows and oranges throughout the countryside.

The Konopiště Castle was the summer home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He is actually most famous because his assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 marked the beginning of World War I. There is your history lesson for the day, readers. You might ask what makes Konopiště castle more intriguing than any other castle in Europe? The answer is what’s inside it. The Archduke Franz LOVED hunting. And when I say loved, I mean really and truly loved it. He is said to have killed 300,000 animals in his lifetime. Whoa. There are three separate tours available to the public because his collections and the castle are so extensive, you really can’t see them all in just one hour. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos, so you’ll have to rely on my ability to describe the collections. Here is a link to a few photos on the Konopiště website if you are interested. We chose tour number two, also known as the “dead animals and weapons” tour. Every inch of wall space was covered in animal skins, mounted animal heads or whole birds, horns, or antlers carefully labeled with a date and place of the hunt. Franz must have been a little obsessive compulsive with all that organization. One of the strangest “prizes” was an ashtray made of an elephant’s foot sitting on a table made from it’s leg. Creepy. In the last room of the tour, we even saw three stuffed bears, one posed up on its hind legs as if it were ready to attack. Apparently, Franz really loved bears and used to keep them in the moat around the castle. Even today, a real bear named Kazimir lives in the moat with his own zoo-like setup. Phil was pretty upset that we didn’t get to see him, and by the end of the day was convinced the missing bear was a lie, just a ploy to get people to the castle. I think the bear was just sleeping inside his little cave, but who knows?

The other part of the tour showed us Franz’s collection of weapons and armor dating from the 16^th century. Many of the guns were actually pieces of art, not just hunting tools. There was a gun made entirely of ivory, guns with inlaid jewels and mother-of-pearl handles, or others etched with detailed biblical or battle scenes. I was impressed more by the artistic talent it must have taken to create these guns than with the Archduke’s obsession with shooting them.

For the rest of the afternoon, we explored the grounds of Konopiště – the gardens were out of season, but still well manicured. There was also a gorgeous lake which we spent a while walking around. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day: