History of the Château

The Petrůvka River flows through the picturesque areas of Těšín Silesia. It is worth following in its footsteps because in the part of the village of Petrovice near Karviná called Prstná, on its banks, on a wooded hill, there is a classicist palace with aristocratic roots and its former inhabitants are involved in the Mayerling tragedy.

The origins of the palace date back to 1796, when a representative of an old Silesian family, Wojciech Gusnar, Knight of Komorna, bought the small village of Prstná from Count John Larisch. The new owner built a two-winged palace in the Empire style in the middle of a landscaped park. The main wing has a tympanum, characteristic of monumental buildings in Greece and Rome, i.e. a triangular field that was once decorated with the owners' coat of arms.

The main entrance is dominated by a balcony carried by Tuscan columns. The hipped roof is topped with small dormers. Inside, the authorities have taken care of the stucco decoration and assembled a very impressive library.

In 1879 the Gussnars sold the village back to the Larisch-Mönnichs. In this way, the palace became the residence of Count Georg and Maria Louise Larisch von Mönnich, whose fate is permanently etched in the history of the Austrian monarchy.

Baroness Maria Louisa von Wallersee, was the favourite niece of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria, called Sisi. It was she who brought Maria to the Viennese court and soon married Count Georg Larisch von Mönnich, nephew of Count John Larisch von Mönnich, the owner of the Karviná majority. The young couple lived in Château Prstná, which resembled Maria's jewellery box.

The Larisch-Mönnich family lived here for only four years. Maria was a famous person in aristocratic circles and quickly found a lover in Henry Baltazzi.

In 1888, Countess Maria Larisch von Mönnich introduced Baroness Maria von Vetsera, a cousin of Balthazzi, to Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, whose marriage was not going well. On 30 December 1889, Countess Maria Larisch von Mönnich brought the young Baroness Maria von Vetsera to Schönbrunn Palace for a secret meeting with Crown Prince Rudolf. From there Baroness Maria von Vetsera went to the hunting lodge in Mayerling, where she was later joined by Crown Prince Rudolf. The mysterious circumstances of their suicidal death remain a mystery to this day. After the events in Mayerling, when her role as matchmaker was exposed, Countess Maria Larisch von Mönnich was expelled by the imperial court and soon returned to Bavaria herself. In 1896 her marriage to Count Larisch von Mönnich broke down.

After the tragic events of Mayerling and the break-up of her marriage to Count Larisch von Mönnich, Maria married the opera singer Otto Brucks, who died in 1914. During World War I she worked on the war front as a Red Cross nurse. In 1920 a film was made about Empress Sisi in which Baroness Maria von Wallersee played herself.

After the war, in 1924, she went to America and married a Florida farmer, William Henry Mayers. William turned out to be an impostor, counting on the title and wealth of a divorced European countess. In 1926 she fled from him to New Jersey and worked as a cook and cleaner. In 1929 she returned to her native Augsburg, where she died in poverty and obscurity eleven years later.

Meanwhile, in 1893 the château in Prstná became the property of Count Larisch von Mönnich of Karviná. When the estate was parcelled out in 1927, the property and the park were sold and after reconstruction the first floor was taken over by the Czech primary school.

In 1947 the palace was sold to Štěpán and Marta Wnuka. After their death it became the property of the National Council in Karviná and since 1985 the cooperative Jednota - Jedność in Český Těšín, which converted the palace into a hotel and restaurant. In 1999 the building was transferred to the legal heirs.

In October 2012 the building was bought by Trestles, a.s. The property was renovated, restored and inaugurated in the presence of Mr Karel Gott. The park surrounding the castle and the access road have undergone major changes. Since 2018, the only owner is Ms Jolanta Burkotová.