FAMILY GEYMÜLLER AND THE KAMENICE NAD LIPOU CASTLE

curator: Radim Vondráček
architecture design: Dušan Seidl
graphic design: Eva Koktová

Organised by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague in cooperation with the Municipal Museum in Kamenice nad Lipou.

The chamber exhibition of historical photographs, archive materials, and several dozen objects from the original chateau furnishings introduces visitors to the history of the Kamenice nad Lipou chateau in the 19th and 20th centuries and in particular to its former owners – the Geymüller family. They owned the castle from 1831 until the end of the Second World War when they were expelled from the family estate in the summer of 1945 and forced to move to Austria. The confiscated castle was used as a children’s sanatorium from 1945 to 1998. In 1998 it was taken over by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, which extensively renovated it and opened it to the public in 2004.

The exhibition presents the most important personalities of the Geymüller family, whose members established themselves in the Austrian monarchy at the beginning of the 19th century as skilled merchants and successful bankers. For their merits, they were ennobled by Emperor Franz I. Historical photographs from the possession of the National Heritage Institute (from the Červená Lhota chateau). The Municipal Museum in Kamenice nad Lipou documents the historical interiors of the chateau and the life of the nobility at the chateau, including aristocratic festivities, entertainment, and sporting activities. Several exhibits have also been lent to the exhibition by the family of Rudolf Geymüller, who now resides at Hollenburg Castle in Austria.