A Jacobite Gazetteer - Czech Republic

Ivanovice na Hané

Ivanovice Castle
Ivanovice Castle

The town of Ivanovice na Hané (formerly Eiwanowitz) is located about forty kilometres east of Brno (Brünn).

In 1850 the castle and surrounding estate was inherited by Princess Mary (Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria-Este; later Queen Mary IV and III). 1 Mary was only a baby at the time.

Mary's mother, Archduchess Elizabeth of Austria, visited Eiwanowitz in 1853. She visited again in 1894 with her son Archduke Eugen (half-brother of Queen Mary). 2

Queen Mary visited Eiwanowitz April 25, 1905 with her husband Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig III) of Bavaria. The couple visited again May 4 - 7, 1914, when they were accompanied by their daughters Adelgunde, Hildegard, Wiltrud, Helmtrud, and Gundelinde. 3
 
Visit to Ivanovice
Queen Mary and King Ludwig with their daughters in Ivanovice, 1914

In 1918 the Czechoslovakian government expropriated the property on the grounds that Queen Mary was a member of the House of Habsburg, the former reigning family of the Austrian Empire. After a decade-long legal process the property was returned to the Royal Family. In the late 1930's King Rupert decided to sell the estate, but with the German occcupation of Czechoslovakia it became illegal to sell German-owned properties. In 1945 the estate was once again expropriated by the Czechoslovakian government. 4 Today the castle is in a significant state of disrepair. In early 2006 it was offered for sale for 7,500,000 czech crowns (approximately US$300,000).

Some of the furniture formerly at Eiwanowitz can now be seen on the tour of Schloss Berchtesgaden

in the last room on the first floor before proceeding upstairs to the family apartments. 5

Notes

1 Emil Palásek, Ivanovice Na Hané: Z Historie k Soucasnosti (Ivanovice Na Hané: Mesto Ivanovice Na Hané, 1998), 18 and 21. The estate had been purchased for 3,000 florins in 1837 by Mary's great-uncle Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este. Cf. Petra Knappová and Eva Marincáková, "Historie zámku, 5 - Habsburkové", http://www.ivanovicenahane.cz/showpage.php?name=zamek05. Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph died in November 1850; it is possible that he had left Eiwanowitz in his will to his nephew and Mary's father Archduke Ferdinand Karl Victor who had died the previous December.

2 Palásek, 18.

3 Palásek, 249-253.

4 Kurt Sendtner, Rupprecht von Wittelsbach, Kronprinz von Bayern (München: Richard Pflaum, 1954), 472.

5 Max Oppel, Schloss Berchtesgaden (München: Hirmer, 2001), 54.

Image 1 (Ivanovice Castle): "Ivanovice na Hané", http://www.ivanovicenahane.cz

 This page is maintained by Noel S. McFerran (noel.mcferran@rogers.com) and was last updated October 27, 2006.
© Noel S. McFerran 2006.