Zábřeh

Zábřeh stands on the Moravská Sázava in northern Moravia. First recorded in 1254, the settlement probably guarded a ford and had a fortress; it was described as a town by 1278. The Sternberg family held the estate in the fourteenth century, and Jobst of Moravia gave it to the lords of Kravaře in 1397. Its fortress was rebuilt as a castle around that time.

In 1442 Zábřeh passed to the Tunkl family, who made it the centre of a large estate, enlarged the castle and established ponds. Debt forced Jindřich Tunkl to sell the estate in 1508. The castle was remodelled in Renaissance style later in the century; after the Battle of White Mountain, the Liechtenstein family acquired the estate in 1622. A severe fire at the end of the eighteenth century left most of the town's houses needing reconstruction.