Zprávy památkové péče 2014, 74(6):497-506

The personage of Johannes Coudenhove-Kalergi and references to him in the mobiliary fund of the castle in Poběžovice

Tomáš Štumbauer

The aristocratic family of Coudenhove-Kalergi established in West Bohemian Poběžovice (Ronsperg) is mostly known for the personages of the exotic Japanese woman Mitsuko and her son, Dr. Richard Nikolaus, a promoter of pan-European ideas. The article refers to Mitsuko's first-born son, Johann (Hans) Evangelist Virgilio Coudenhove-Kalergi von Ronspergheim (1893-1965), whose life is mostly tied to the castle in Poběžovice. The fate of this eccentric collector and amateur artist, the husband of the first female Hungarian pilot Lilly Steinschneider, is a testament to the life of the subdued aristocracy who were stripped of their titles under the atmosphere of the first Czechoslovak democratic republic in the first third of the 20th century. The original mobiliary of the castle in Poběžovice reflects the unusual hobbies and tastes of the castle's last owner and his family. The extensive portrait gallery of ancestors created for the castle gallery by painters Josef Adolf Lang and Alfréd Offner are one of the very last coherently conceived portrait galleries of the aristocracy in Bohemia. The tendentious opinions of heritage preservation in the 1950's assessed this art, commissioned by Count Hans, as downright decadent, but over time this position was reconsidered. The castle mobiliary was confiscated after 1945, part of which is now located in the collections and funds of many memory institutions throughout the Czech Republic. The castle building in Poběžovice, completely stripped of its original furnishings, was subject to devastation in the 20th century and is currently undergoing a gradual renovation. According to available sources and a comparison with the extant mobiliary, however, a partial picture of the original disposition of the mobiliary in the Poběžovice Castle during its use by the Coudenhove-Kalergi family can still be created.

Keywords: Johannes Evangelist Virgilio Coudenhove-Kalergi, Coudenhove-Kalergi, Lilly Steinschneider, Poběžovice, Ronsperg, mobiliary funds, confiscation, Josef Adolf Lang, Alfréd Offner

Published: December 1, 2014  Show citation