Historic Glasshouse of Valeč Château (historický skleník)

The glasshouse comes from Vienna. In 1891 it stood beside the palace of Count Vincent Thurn-Valsassina in Vienna; according to new research reported by Czech public radio, it was made by the Viennese firm Rudolph Philip Waagner. An Archiweb article published in 2019 dated it more broadly to the 1870s or 1880s. When the palace was later remodelled, the structure was dismantled, taken to western Bohemia and re-erected in 1895 at Valeč, in the lower part of the château park, by the same count.

The glasshouse was restored in 1996. In 2019 the Ministry of Culture announced 34 million crowns for its reconstruction, together with the former château garden nursery, the access paths and the planting. Specialists dismantled the glasshouse at the beginning of 2023. From spring 2026 its frame was restored in Jiří Kmošek's workshop in Litomyšl: about 80 per cent of the original components were kept, the most damaged parts being replaced by replicas, at a cost of some 6 million crowns. In September 2026, after almost four years away, the structure returned to Valeč to be reassembled. Work on the glasshouse and its surroundings has cost about 44 million crowns in total over a little more than five years, funded by the Ministry of Culture and the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ).

The glasshouse stands on a frame of steel and cast iron made in Vienna in the late nineteenth century. It weighs about 15 tonnes, and its dome, some 15 metres high, makes it the dominant feature of the estate. It occupies the lower part of the park, below the stables, the carriage house and a farm building.

Its demountable structure explains its eventful history: designed for a Viennese palace, it could be taken apart, transported and put up again at Valeč. The recent restoration followed the same logic, the frame being dismantled piece by piece, restored in a workshop in Litomyšl and reassembled on site in the autumn of 2026. Glazing, announced for the following spring, is to complete the work, and the project presented in 2019 provided for modern equipment to care for the plants.

Until the glazing is in place, the glasshouse holds no plants. According to Czech public radio, it will then be planted in the manner of nineteenth-century winter gardens, with palms, orchids and other ornamental flowering plants. The 2019 project linked the glasshouse to the restoration of the former château garden nursery and of the planting around it.

Beyond its botanical role, the glasshouse is intended to host cultural events, theatre performances, concerts and weddings; in 2019 operation by a private company, with a café or restaurant, was being considered. Around it, the park, once one of the finest baroque gardens in Bohemia, still holds statues from the workshop of Matthias Bernard Braun.

Valeč Château lies in the Karlovy Vary Region at the foot of the Doupov Mountains. Its park, open all year, brings together the Teatron, a summer house, the glasshouse and the statues from Braun's workshop; the estate also offers two audiovisual exhibitions. The château, devastated by fire in 1976, is still being restored. Until the glazing and planting are finished, the glasshouse is mainly of interest for its frame, so it is worth checking on the progress of the work before visiting. Allow one to two hours for the park and château.