Březina - Chateau

In the northwestern corner of the Pelhřimov District lies the village of Hořepník, which includes the small hamlet of Březina. The hamlet is home to a Neo-Renaissance castle (No. 1) with its adjacent grounds, which has been a protected cultural monument since 2011.

The earliest history of the site is linked to Konipasy Castle, which stood directly on the site of today’s chateau and was first mentioned in the late 13th century. It was part of the Hořepník estate. It passed through the hands of a series of owners (the Lords of Hradec, the families of Mezimostí, Chotěmice, and Landštejn) until it became part of the Loutkov estate and later the Lipnice nad Sázavou estate. A major turning point came after 1572, when Stanislav Houska of Zahrádka restored the farmstead, brewery, and sheepfold, and built a new Renaissance fortress nearby on the site of the dilapidated castle. In the following decades, the owners changed rapidly (including Kryštof the Younger Vratislav of Mitrovice and Jiří Miličovský of Braumberk). In 1743, the estate was acquired by General Constable Bedřich Jeník Zásadský of Gamsenberk, who, in the mid-18th century (according to a chronogram from 1765), converted the Renaissance fortress into a Baroque chateau with a cylindrical chapel dedicated to the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

In the 19th century, the estate was first owned by the Jeník family of Gamsenberk, then by Josef Čapek, and from 1839 onward by the Eisenstein family, a line of knights and entrepreneurs. It was on the initiative of Baron Karel Eisenstein that a major Neo-Renaissance reconstruction of the chateau took place in 1893, giving it its present form with a two-wing layout, towers on the eastern facade, and a richly detailed western facade.

Antonín Homolka purchased the castle from the Eisensteins in 1808, and his son Jiří Josef further improved it. After 1948, the family was forced to emigrate; their property was confiscated, and the castle served as a state farm and later as a collective farm (JZD). It was subsequently divided into apartments and, as a result, quickly fell into disrepair. It was not until 1991 that Jiří Homolka regained ownership of the castle through restitution and began its gradual, comprehensive restoration.