You can have a romantic wedding here as well. Even Petr Vok of Rožmberk and Kateřina of Ludanice got married here in 1580. The atmosphere of Bechyně evokes the picturesque town of Český Krumlov, the seat of the Rožmberks.
For more than three hundred years, the Bechyně estate belonged to the Counts of Sternberg, then later to the House of Paar through marriage. Portraits of the former owners still adorn the walls of the castle gallery. As strong patriots during the war, the castle remained in their possession until 1948. The last Prince Alfons was one of the signatories of the memorandum of the Czech and Moravian nobility to President Hácha in 1939.
During the communist era, the castle was utilized by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. After 1989, the estate was returned to the Paar family, specifically to the oldest of three siblings, Prince Alfons Wenceslas, son of Prince Alfons, who decided to sell the castle. The castle is presently owned by the company Panství Bechyně SE, headquartered in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The head of the company is Josef Šťáva with his daughters Silvia, Dagmar, and Nicole. Josef, the grandson of former manager of the Renaissance castle in Bechyně, emigrated shortly after the Soviet occupation in 1968 at the age of eighteen. After almost thirty years of Swiss emigration, he finally returned home and brought with him the capital for a thorough reconstruction.
The company he founded now owns the entire Bechyně estate, including the castle and five thousand hectares of forests, fields, ponds, and other properties. The Šťáva company has invested a remarkable amount into the castle’s reconstruction and the improvement of its surroundings with no state support and unquestionably deserves credit for the blossoming of the Bechyně estates. Today, the company is managed by the daughter’s family and employs hundreds of people in Bechyně. The company also operates a golf course and organizes theater and music events at the castle as well as exhibitions.
The entire castle complex accounts for the most important and most costly repairs of the entire estate. The castle riding school was restored, the adjoining buildings and the chateau are now adorned with a new facade, and the interior courtyard and furniture, paintings, floors, coffered and stucco ceilings, and the wall paintings in the interior have all been restored and renovated. The murals in the wedding hall give the slight impression that the entire medieval court has come to attend your wedding.
Nearby tips: Dobronice u Bechyně Visit the 14th century ruins of Dobronice Castle near Bechyně. You can also stroll through the Černice game park, founded in 1585 by Petr Vok of Rožmberk. There is a nature trail the begins at the clubhouse of the Bechyně golf course in the middle of the park; it leads you through the entire area which is home to many rare insects.