Mladá Boleslav Castle

Mladá Boleslav Castle (German Jungbunzlau) stands on a spur above the confluence of the Jizera and Klenice in the historic core of the town of the same name in Central Bohemia. A Přemyslid stronghold arose here at the end of the tenth century, probably under Boleslav II; the name distinguishes the site from Stará Boleslav on the Elbe. In 1130 the administrative castle Bolezlaui / Nový Boleslav is first recorded, seat of a castellan. Mid-thirteenth century a royal stone castle was built on the tip of the spur; the rest of the precinct was abandoned (Hroby). The last known castellan, in 1262, was Jaroslav of Markvartice.

After 1318/1334 the lords of Michalovice took the site; in 1334 Ješek moved the town onto the outer bailey and granted Nymburk law. In 1468 the Tovačovský of Cimburk followed, in the early sixteenth century Jan of Šelmberk (late-Gothic residential rebuilding and a bollwerk above the confluence). After 1548 and the fire of 1555 the Krajíř of Krajek, with Matteo Borgorelli, created a Renaissance château. In 1595 the town bought itself free of seigneurial ties; the castle ceased to be a residence. In the Thirty Years’ War imperial and Swedish garrisons alternated; afterwards it was a quarry and bell foundry. The town became owner in 1677. From 1752 to 1783 (Ignaz Palliardi’s scheme of 1752/53) it was turned into barracks: a storey added, towers re-roofed, north-west and north-east wings built. The army stayed until 1953; from 1940 to early 1943 the German occupation interned Jews from the region here before deportation. Until 1972 it was a textile store, then a museum.

What remains is a much-altered complex with a two-wing core on the south, two massive towers and a barracks façade. Gothic and Renaissance fabric survives in the core; cellar vaults are medieval. The owner is the Central Bohemian Region. The palace holds the Museum of the Mladá Boleslav Region (permanent exhibition Hrad, krajina a lidé); another wing houses the state district archive. The castle is a cultural monument and open to the public.