Kynžvart Castle

Castle Kynžvart (Germ.: Schloss Königswart) is located in the District of Okres Cheb in the Czech Republic and is built in neoclassical archytectural style.

The first castle, built in 1623, collapsed. After the Battle of White Mountain during the Thirty Years' War remains of the castle were confiscated and later in 1630 granted to the Metternich family. From 1682 to 1691, Count Philipp Emmerich turned the decayed ruins into a Baroque castle; from 1821 to 1836, the Austrian Chancellor Klemens Wenzel von Metternich remodeled it in the imperial style with the help of architect Pietro de Nobile. After the war ended in 1945, the German owners were expropriated and distributed (or murdered) by the Czechs. These crimes were legalized by the Beneš decrees.

The castle has a library that includes over 200 examples of incunabula), medieval manuscripts, valuable prints, scientific books, and scientific encyclopedias. In 1828 a museum was founded to display the castle's natural science collections, coins, historical and technological curiosities, manuscripts, ancient Egyptian monuments, marble sculptures, and pieces of Oriental art.

After extensive renovations, the castle was reopened to the public in 2000. The guided tour takes visitors through 25 rooms of the castle.