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František Kinský

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KINŠTÍ: Bůh, čest, vlast

František Kinský, full name Maria Franz Emanuel Johannes Silvester Alfons Graf Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau was born on December 27, 1947 in Hradec Králové.

He is a descendant of the Kostelec branch of the noble Kinský family and the first son of Count Josef Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau and Bernadetta Kinská, née Merveldt.

František was named after his grandfather František Josef Kinský. He spent his early childhood in the Slovakian village Košeca, where his father Josef ran a paint factory.

After the Communist takeover in February 1948, Josef Kinský was accused and soon arrested as a consequence of a fabricated political trial. For the ongoing years, he ended up in the Jáchymov uranium mines, communist prison camps. At that time, František Kinský lived with his mother and grandfather Josef in the family home in Kostelec nad Orlicí.

Later, the family was forced to move to Prague, where František graduated from the Secondary Industrial School of Civil Engineering. He continued his studies at the Faculty of Journalism of Charles University, however did not complete his studies. During the Prague Spring and the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia, he served his military service with the road brigade. After returning to Prague, he worked for Czechoslovak Television and later on for the Kovoprojekt design office. In 1980, when he started in a new firm – Merkur, he also switched to a new field: advertising. For many years, he also worked as the creative director of a multinational advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather.

In the 1992 restitution, the property – including the chateau – was returned to Josef Kinský, František’s father. After building a savings cushion, Josef Kinský, in his eighties, started a twelve-year reconstruction journey of his native house. In 2003, he transferred the administration of the family property to his older son František Kinský. The New Castle, together with the surrounding English park, was opened to the public in 2008. On the first floor of the chateau there is a permanent exhibition called Life in the Biedermeier, decorated with original restored furniture. The second floor is dedicated to the Kinský Gallery. In the basement, you will find a permanent museum exhibition of the Kostelec nad Orlicí town. Toni’s famous chateau café and restaurant, which celebrates the name of the younger brother of the current owner, the late Antonín Kinský, became an essential part of the chateau.

František Kinský is a family property administrator and an active entrepreneur. He owns the Lesní hospodářství a správa zámků Kinský (forestry service), Písník Kinský, which mines sand on the family plot, and also a third co-owner of Cihelna Kinský (brick manufacturer), which belongs to the Austrian Wienerberger group. He relentlessly invests the funds earned from the business in further improvements of the chateau.

In 2010, František Kinský entered communal politics. In the municipal elections in 2014, he was elected mayor of Kostelec nad Orlicí. He’s been holding the position for the second term.

CV – František Kinský