Ratibořice

Ratibořice
Château
Ratibořice Château
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Hradec Králové
District	Náchod
Municipality	Česká Skalice
Coordinates	50°24′53″N 16°3′9″E / 50.41472°N 16.05250°E / 50.41472; 16.05250Coordinates: 50°24′53″N 16°3′9″E / 50.41472°N 16.05250°E / 50.41472; 16.05250
Style	Baroque
Founded	1708
Location in the Czech Republic
Website: Zámek Ratibořice.cz

Ratibořice Château is a château 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north of Česká Skalice and about 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of Náchod, in the Hradec Králové region, Czech Republic. It stands on an elevated plain below which valley in the bend of the Úpa river widens. Together with Babiččino údolí (Grandmother's valley), situated between Česká Skalice and Havlovice, it offers the gentle beauty of the Baroque architecture and Bohemian landscape, ranking among the best-known and most frequented places in East Bohemia. They have become fixed in the minds of the wide public thanks to the most famous work of the writer Božena Němcová - Babička (The Grandmother).

In the Middle Ages a village named Ratibořice was a farm and it stood here. Situated above it, on the site called "On Old Ratibořice", was a knights' stronghold which was mentioned in 1388 as the seat of Vaněk of Žampach. In 1464 Ratibořice was purchased by Aleš of Rýzmburk. At the time of Petr Andršpach of Dubá, the stronghold was attached to the Rýzmburk estate. In 1534 it was described already in the Land Rolls as deserted. About the year 1565 it was repaired again, but after 1582, during the period of rule of the Smiřický family and after its attachment to the Náchod estate, it definitely ceased to exist.

After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Trčka family owned the estate from 1623 to 1634, its last Czech owner being Adam Erdman Trčka, who lost his life along with Albrecht of Valdštejn during the so-called "Cheb Execution". The emperor Ferdinand II bestowed the confiscated estate on the Italian noble Ottavio Piccolomini "for his royal services".

In the years 1702 to 1708 the then owner of the estate Lorenzo Piccolomini had a Baroque summer palace built at Ratibořice which he intended to use for summer sojourns and in hunting period. The small château was built in the style of Italian country villas and similarly as the château at Hostivice and Kácov, it ranked among the unique samples of this type of lordly seat in this country.