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Kristin Hrádek – history
Kristin Hrádek (Christianenburg) is a small hunting lodge from the 18th century right on the border between Bohemia and Saxony, in the forest between Rosenthal-Bielatal, the Hoher Schneeberg and Děčín. Until 1945 it was the hunting lodge of the counts and later princes Thun-Hohenstein of Tetschen, then a state forester's house in the border zone; since 2009 it has been restored and is a popular destination with a well-known game restaurant.
A hunting lodge for Maria Kristina
The little hunting lodge was built by the Thun family, lords of Tetschen: according to Czech sources, Count Jan Josef Thun-Hohenstein had it built in 1734/35 in the middle of his game-rich border forests and named it after his wife Maria Kristina, a born Countess of Hohenzollern – hence Kristin Hrádek, the “Kristina Castle”, in German Christianenburg. At the same time, in the 1730s, a large hunting court with a hunting-equipment house and kennels was built in Bodenbach, later the seat of the Thun forestry administration – today it houses the Děčín Museum and the State Archive.
Border guard Pankratius Müller
In the 17th and 18th centuries the border between the lordship of Tetschen and Saxony was long disputed; at times it was even secured with a fence so that game would not cross over. A report from 1767 tells that Count Thun had a border guard post set up at Christianenburg: a certain Pankratius Müller watched the border with Saxony, protected the count's forests from wood and game thieves and looked after the little lodge. Next to it there probably stood from the beginning a gamekeeper's house with a small inn, where two foresters lived. The 18th century is considered the golden age of hunting.
Crown princes on the hunt
Count Franz Anton von Thun und Hohenstein (1786–1873) ran the estate according to modern principles, promoted schools and industry and made it one of the best-administered in Bohemia. His grandson Franz Anton (1847–1916), Bohemian governor, Austrian prime minister and from 1911 a prince, made the hunting ground a favorite of the nobility: Schwarzenberg, Lobkowicz and Nostitz hunted here – and even Crown Prince Rudolf and heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand d'Este, who was said to have an almost pathological passion for hunting. For the last Thun owner, Prince Franz Anton (1890–1973), Christianenburg was above all a summer residence in the 1930s and 1940s.
End of the war and border zone
At the end of the war in 1945, troops of the Vlasov army plundered the little lodge and the forests. The Thun estate was placed under national administration, the family had to leave Bohemia after more than three centuries, and forest and buildings passed to the state forestry enterprises. In 1948 the gamekeeper's house was rebuilt. In the early 1950s the border with the GDR was guarded more strictly: Christianenburg now lay in the militarily controlled border zone and fell into disrepair, forestry work was permitted only under supervision, and the hunting grounds were dissolved – and so it remained until 1966.
Decay and rescue
In the 1970s the dilapidated building was partly repaired so that the forestry enterprises could use it for social occasions; further alterations followed in the early 1990s. In 2009 the Kristin Hrádek company bought the property from the Czech state forests (Lesy ČR) and had it carefully restored to its original form – today with a game restaurant that in 2016 took second place in the Czech restaurant guide “Maurerův výběr Grand Restaurant”. Tom and Katrin warmly recommend it.
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