Zámek Kynžvart

Kynžvart Chateau is a country noble residence built at the crossroads of Viennese Neoclassicism and Empire style. It stands in western Bohemia, on the edge of the Slavkovský les (Kaiserwald) forest in the Cheb district of the Karlovy Vary Region, about 1.5 km southwest of the town of Lázně Kynžvart, roughly 20 km southeast of Cheb, and about 10 km north of Mariánské Lázně. The chateau is state-owned, administered by the National Heritage Institute, and open to the public.

It is most famous as the former summer residence of Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, one of the key figures of European diplomacy in his era. The chateau is protected as a cultural monument and was listed among national cultural monuments in 2001. In 2019 the European Commission added it to the list of sites awarded the European Heritage Label, recognising it as the site of pan-European diplomatic meetings from the days when it belonged to Metternich himself.

The elegant architecture, poised between Neoclassicism and Empire style, breathes a calm rural spirit and reflects the taste of a 19th-century European statesman. The chateau is surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Slavkovský les, so a tour naturally pairs with a walk through the grounds. Its location on the edge of a well-known spa region makes Kynžvart an easily reachable destination for anyone heading to western Bohemia.

Thanks to its proximity to Mariánské Lázně and other places in the famous spa triangle, Kynžvart fits perfectly into a longer sightseeing circuit. If you choose accommodation nearby, you can dedicate one day to the chateau and its park, and other days to walks along the spa promenades and through the nature of the Slavkovský les — unhurried, with time to soak up the atmosphere of a place where European diplomatic history was once written.