Chateau – Ernestinum

Ernestinum Chateau is one of the oldest surviving monuments in the town. The original woodern stronghold, which forms the eastern part of the building together with a Gothic bay, was commissioned in the mid-14th century by the owner, Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice, the first Czech archbishop. By the end of the 17th century the abandoned castle had been expanded by a south wing and converted into a chateau. In the 1840s the object was expanded by a third west wing, which is linked to the massive development of silver mining in Příbram. It required the establishment of a mining school. The surrounding walls were torn down and the ditches filled in. The school acquired the status of a Mining Academy in 1895. Nine years later it was renamed as the Mining College, which was later transferred to Ostrava in 1945.

The appearance of the building changed after the partial reconstruction in the late 1970s. The individual stages of the reconstruction differ in the structure and the colour of the facade paint. 

The building currently houses a ceremonial hall and the town gallery, named after the eminent Czech photographer František Drtikol, born in Příbram.