Konopiště Castle: A Habsburg Home Near Prague

A private tour to the Konopiště Castle takes you about 50 km southeast of Prague, into the wooded countryside of Central Bohemia, to one of the most beautiful and best-preserved castles in the country. Founded as a Gothic fortress around 1294, Konopiště became famous for its final owner — Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He transformed it into a lavish country residence, and it remains very much as he left it: his rooms, his collections and the rose garden he designed, all frozen in the years before the First World War.

Franz Ferdinand was a hunter of almost unimaginable scale — his own diaries tallied 272,511 game kills over his lifetime, and the trophies still line the corridors today. He was also a devoted family man and an obsessive collector, amassing art, historic weapons and one of Europe's largest collections of objects depicting St. George slaying the dragon. In June 1914 he left Konopiště for military manoeuvres in Sarajevo, where he and his wife Sophie were assassinated on 28 June — the event that set the First World War in motion.

The story of the castle

Konopiště was established around 1294 by Tobiáš of Benešov, Bishop of Prague, as a Gothic fortress built in the French style, with round towers guarding its corners. In 1327 it passed to the powerful Šternberk family, who held it for nearly 275 years, and over the following centuries it was reshaped by the Hodějov and Vrtba families into a Baroque residence.

The castle's defining chapter began in 1887, when Franz Ferdinand bought the estate from the Lobkowicz family with the inheritance he received from Francis V, Duke of Modena. After becoming heir to the throne following the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, he commissioned the architect Josef Mocker to rebuild Konopiště between 1889 and 1894 into a residence worthy of a future emperor. He installed extraordinary comforts for the era — electricity, central heating, flush toilets and one of the first electric lifts in any Czech castle.

Around 1900 he laid out the famous Rose Garden within a 225-hectare English-style park. After his assassination in 1914 the estate passed to his children, was seized in 1919 and confiscated by the new Czechoslovak state in 1921. Remarkably, the interiors survived largely intact — which is why a visit today feels less like a museum and more like stepping into a private home its owner has only just left.

What the tour includes

Your guide picks you up at your hotel in Prague and travels with you to Konopiště, telling the story of Franz Ferdinand, his family and the world he lived in along the way — including his controversial morganatic marriage to Sophie Chotek, the Czech countess he loved despite the imperial court's opposition. At the castle you'll take a guided interior tour through the state and private rooms — the wood-panelled apartments, the Great Dining Hall and the hunting corridors hung with antlers and trophies. Several tour circuits are offered on site, from the south-wing apartments to the North Wing armoury and the family's private rooms.

The armoury holds the Obizzi-Este collection, brought from Italy and counted among the largest collections of historic arms and armour in Europe — and the richest in the Czech lands. You'll also find the Museum of St. George, an award-winning collection of more than 1,000 works devoted to the dragon-slaying saint and one of the archduke's great obsessions; its conservation was recognised with a Europa Nostra prize.

Outside, there's time to wander the terraces, the English park and the Rose Garden, where peacocks roam freely and a bear named Jiří still lives in the castle moat — a detail children love.

Your guide picks you up directly from your hotel in Prague and brings you back at the end of the day, so there's no need to navigate trains or buses — the drive to Konopiště takes roughly 50 minutes each way.

This day trip can be combined with a visit to Kozel Brewery, Karlštejn Castle or Český Šternberk Castle — all within easy reach of Konopiště and Prague. Price for the combined tour available on request.

You can browse all our private Prague tours and day trips from Prague if you are planning more.