Palm Greenhouse in the Opočno Château Park (palmový skleník)

The upper part of the Opočno park, where the greenhouse stands, is the longest-cultivated area of the estate. According to the château's official website, it was in all likelihood already growing vegetables and herbs for the kitchens in the sixteenth century, under the Trčka z Lípa family, alongside ornamental and fruit gardens, while the southern part served as a game preserve and livestock enclosure. By 1740 utilitarian and ornamental gardens existed side by side, and apricots, peaches and citrus were grown under glass.

In the early nineteenth century Rudolf Josef Colloredo-Mannsfeld (1772-1843), then owner of the estate, set about turning the formal French garden into an English landscape park from around 1816, to a design by J. Exner: the slopes were planted with trees, the ponds remodelled, and a waterfall, bridges over the Zlatý potok and romantic viewpoints added. The palm house, dated 1820, belongs to this campaign; together with the gardener's house it closes the western side of the oldest core of the park. The park underwent further major changes in 1868.

Notably, the greenhouse has never changed its purpose and is still used to grow and overwinter the château's plants. It has recently been restored, although the sources consulted do not date the work, and the neighbouring former gardener's house now holds a public library.

The château's official website describes the greenhouse as classicist, while the Hrady.cz database and Czech Wikipedia call it Empire style. The building stretches along the edge of the upper park; its south-east front, facing the park, is 50 metres long.

This front rests on a richly decorated timber construction into which cast-iron elements and glass louvres are set, letting light into the interior. The greenhouse stands in the upper park, the longest-cultivated part of the estate, today the area around the summer house.

The greenhouse forms an ensemble with the neighbouring former gardener's house: together they close the western side of the oldest core of the park. Recently restored, the greenhouse is described by the Hrady.cz database as well preserved.

True to its original purpose, the greenhouse shelters through the cold season the frost-tender exotic plants owned by the château: citrus trees, olives, palms, oleanders and other warmth-loving species. From May to October these tub plants leave the greenhouse to decorate the château's rooms and courtyards, a role the greenhouse has kept since it was built.

This role extends a long local tradition: as early as 1740 the Opočno gardens were growing apricots, peaches and citrus under glass. Around the greenhouse, the landscape park of some twenty hectares keeps rare exotic trees, especially in the valley of the Zlatý potok.

Opočno lies in eastern Bohemia, in the Rychnov nad Kněžnou district. The château park can be entered from Zámecká Street, Hradecká Street and Švamberk, and through the arcaded courtyard while the château is open. From November to the end of March only the flat area near the summer house (letohrádek) remains accessible. The inside of the greenhouse opens only occasionally, for example during exhibitions, but its long front can be seen from the park. The walk leads on to the early seventeenth-century summer house, the Chinese pavilion, the duck house and the waterfalls.