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  Who would know the charming song Tovačov, Tovačov, tovačovský zámek... (Tovačov, Tovačov, the château of Tovačov...). The château was built as a resource for hunters and later as a protected water fort in the second half of the 11th century. Tovačov reached its full flourish in the 15th century when the estates were in the property of the lord of Ctibor of Tovačov and Cimburk. He rebuilt the château from an original gothic fort into an early Renaissance castle and established a town situated below. In 1492 the 96m-high-tower called „fair“ was completed. Now it is a dominant of the castle and the town. The entering portal, which was completed in the same year, is the oldest Renaissance sightseeing north of the Alps. In the château there are Knights and Parliamentary Halls, a chapel of early baroque with rich stucco and paint decorations with various themes there are stable exhibitions od Ctibor of Tovačov and Cimburk and of the Prussian-Austrian battle of Tovačov in 1866 there. The battle is also remembered with a grave-mound and monuments in the surrounding of the town. The town can be characterized as the oldest urbanization in a Renaissance style in our country. The town square was founded in 1475 and belongs to the oldest ones in the Czech Republic. The town hall with its Renaissance portal in the carriage way together with the fountain (1694) and the statue of St. Wenceslas (1872) are the most important historical sightseeings of the square. At the beginning of the 16th century the Pernštejns started economic using of the estates, above all by fish-pond cultivation. The Hradecký lake, mentioned for the first time in 1503, exists even now. The Pernštejns established new lakes and there were 9 lakes in the estates in the 16th century. Big dams primeval oaks remained and invite to walks. In 1889, when the estates were possessed by last owner David Guttaman, the architect Max Fleischer built a chapel in the Jewish cemetery. The chapel was reconstructed and open for the public in 1996. There is a small exhibit documenting funeral rites of Jewish inhabitants. The château of Tovačov belongs to the most important complexes of architecture in our country and deserves great public attention. The town, surrounded from three quarters with water and meadow woods are also worth to be seen. |
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