Breznice Castle (Czech Republic)

The castle was built in the 13th century by representatives of the Buzic family. The fortress was originally built in the Gothic style. Since 1415 belonged to the noble Zmrzlik family from Svojšin, who rebuilt it after the Hussite wars. In 1506 Brzeznice was bought back by the Malovci, who later joined in 1547 rebellion. The rebels were defeated and the castle was confiscated. After Malovci, the castle was purchased by the vice-chancellor Jiří Lokšanský from the noble Lokšan family, who began to renovate the castle in the Renaissance style. The walls of the castle were covered with sgraffito-style painted plaster. After Jiří's death, his wife Ekaterina Lokšanska took up the reconstruction work. During her lifetime, Brzeznice became one of the main social centers. A secret wedding took place there between the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol and Filipina Welser. Descendants of Catherine Lokšanskjs participated in the rebellion of the Czech estates. Their property was soon confiscated. In 1623 the castle was bought by the royal official Přibik from the Jenišek family from Ujezd. He carried out technical reconstructions of the building. Przybík had no male descendants, but his brother's relatives owned the castle until 1728. The last representative of the Jenišek house was Jan Josef. In his will, Jan wrote, that every subsequent owner of Brzeznice must take on the coat of arms and the name of the Jenišeks. This will was followed by the descendants of the Kolovrats and Palfs families until 1945. The last private owner of the castle was the nobleman Jan Nepomuk from the Palf family. In 1945 the castle was nationalized and transferred to the Institute of National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic.

A large, beautiful, well-designed and fairly richly detailed castle model, that, despite its size, is not too complicated and will suit even advanced beginners and novice modelers, working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague. Things will be somewhat complicated by the rather incomplete and uninformative graphic instruction, which can be covered by the palm of a middle school student.