Castle Park
The castle garden was founded in 1625 by Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, the then owner of the island estate. Its first adaptations referred to early Baroque Italian gardens with their abundant use of water features and rich sculptural decoration. Later owners, Franziska Sibylla Augusta and her husband Ludwig Wilhelm, completed the landscaping in the manner of French gardens. The Ostrov chateau garden was the first garden of this type in Bohemia and became a model for many gardens not only in this country but also in the world. Visitors could feel as if they were in the court of Louis XIV. There were grottoes – artificial rocks, an orangery with animals, a garden theatre, labyrinths, a skittle alley, gazebos, ponds and countless water areas with fountains and fountains to admire. At that time, the park was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. Towards the end of the 18th century, the garden was gradually transformed into a natural landscape park. Most of the buildings were removed, the water features disappeared and the art decoration was sold off and gradually destroyed. The park underwent a major restoration in 2007. Replicas of the two original pools were created at the southern facade of the Prince’s Palace and the original appearance of the park was outlined around the Letohradek.
