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Private apartmens
The sightseeing tour of the private rooms enables us to enter the lives of the individual members of the princely family of Schwarzenberg. The corridor next to the hall on the right leads us to the private rooms of Princess Theresa, née Countess of Trauttsmandorf - Weinsberg (1870-1945). At the time of the romanticist rebuilding they were originally inhabited by the then lord of the Hluboká-Krumlov primogeniture of the family of Schwarzenberg, Prince Jan Adolf II (1799-1888). Its last occupant was the Princess Theresa mentioned above, the spouse of his grandson Jan Nepomuk (1860 -1938).
Prince Jan Adolf II took over the administration of the family property in 1833. At that
timem, he had been married to the beautiful Princess Eleonore for 3 years, the daughter of Prince Moritz Liechtenstein and his spouse Marie Leopoldina, née Esterházy. In the 1830s, Prince Jan Adolf II executed honourable diplomatic missions. First, in 1835, he brought the message about Emperor Ferdinand V’s coronation to the Prussian royal court. Later, in 1838, he and his wife made a journey to England on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s coronation at which time he visited Scotland with his wife, too. Britain had started to be interested as early as the 18th century, which did not concern architecture only, and this was partly the merit of the well-known romantic author Sir Walter Scott. In the years 1840-71, following their return, they had an extensive reconstruction of the chateau of Hluboká carried out in the neo-Gothic style, including the shaping of the surrounding countryside.
We know according to a preserved late 19th century guide of the Bohemian Forest that as early as the primogeniture of Prince Jan Adolf II, when the owners were not present, visitors could see selected salons of the chateau, including the Hunting Hall (at present the Hunting Dining Hall), which adjoined the private rooms of the primogeniture lord. We can get to the Hunting Dining Hall through Hamilton’s Salon, the Smoking Salon and Theresa’s Little Dining Hall. Again, we are surrounded by a lavish wall decoration with hunting trophies, ancient weapons and precious paintings. However, the private rooms are of a more intimate character than salons and halls that can be visited along the main route. The following rooms focus on the last owners of the chateau, Prince Dr. Adolf Schwarzenberg (1890-1950) and his spouse Princess Hilda (1897-1979), née Princess of Luxembourg and Nassau, and before entering them we will go through an interesting room, called the Preparation Room, next to the Hunting Dining Hall. In the chateau of Hluboká, like in other big buildings, food had to be prepared before serving, in the Preparation Room, owing to the distances from the kitchen of the chateau. The appropriate temperature of the food served was kept by a thermic box, cookers or thermo-trays. Going along the staircase in the main tower we will visit the personal rooms of the spouse of the last owner Dr. Adolf, Princess Hilda. We can see both the personal apartment, i.e. the study, dressing room, bedroom and salon, and the part used by the servants, including the sanitary facilities, an up-to-date bathroom with a toilet and bidet. The last occupant and her husband lived here until 1939, when they emigrated overseas to escape from the Nazis. Their journeys to and stay in Africa in the 1930s, where they bought a farm, are interesting, too.
The Great Marble Hall built in the neo-Rococo style from the mid 19th century is, in terms of character, basically different from the other interiors. Its walls are wainscoted with artificial marble and the ceiling is covered with stucco decorations. The most valuable exhibits, which are of European importance, include two Rococo sledges, one being silver-plated, and the other gold-plated, from the mid 18th century. They are completed by a cycle of 4 wall carpets from the 17th century, depicting themes of the Spanish Riding School. A further four carpets of the collection are kept on display in the chateau stables in the chateau of Třeboň. Going along the corridor past the personal and goods lift we will come back, through the chateau tower, to the courtyard.
