Benešov attractions

Konopiště was founded at the end of the 13th century as a medieval fortress of the French type, but after many reconstructions, over the centuries it became a comfortable chateau at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a dignified home of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este, nephew of the Emperor Franz Josef I. and successor of the Austro-Hungarian throne. Franz Ferdinand d´Este bought the chateau in 1887 and lived there until June 1914, when his life and the life of his wife were forcibly ended by the Sarajevo assassination, the historical event that caused the start of World War I. In 1921, the chateau was expropriated by the Czechoslovak state and opened for the public.