Fruit Dumplings: Your Delicious Escape from Boredom!

This year, on the 2. and 3 August 2025 , the well-loved event known as the Feast of Fruit Dumplings will take place at Konopiště Castle. This festival celebrates the favorite dish of Archduke Franz Ferdinand d’Este, who adored both apricot and plum dumplings, generously covered with grated cottage cheese, icing sugar, and, of course, warm and delicious melted butter that he loved to drizzle over his dumplings. Throughout the weekend, visitors can enjoy tasting dumplings (both apricot and plum), gnochi prepared by a Slovak chef, and a unique Ferdinand beer.

During the I. tour circuit, visitors can look forward to a delightful program that revolves around dining in the castle’s dining rooms. This experience will not be dull with theories but alive with entertaining reenactments. The Salons of the North Wing, which are the oldest rooms in the castle featuring Gothic and Renaissance ceilings in the Chapel of St. Hubert, will be open to guests, along with two other exclusive tours by appointment – the Private apartment of Archduke Franz Ferdinand d’Este and the Hunting Route (a special tour featuring hunting displays, including exotic trophies and a collection of hunting weapons).

A fresh fruit “Mojito” stand will complement the offerings and there will also be a Café d’Este bistro serving fresh fruit ice cream and a chocolate shop.

Franz Ferdinand d’Este and his descendants

Franz Ferdinand d’Este (born 18 December 1863 and died 28 June 1914) was an Archduke of Austria and became the heir to the throne after the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his father, Charles Louis. Alongside his wife, Sophie of Hohenberg, who was from a noble family in Bohemia, he alternated between living in the official residence of the heir to the throne, the castle Belvedere in Vienna, and their homes at Konopiště Castle and Zákupy Castle in Bohemia, where they got married. His most substantial wealth, however, was located at Konopiště, his favorite residence, which he bought in 1887 from the Lobkowitz family and renovated with the help of builder Josef Mokra, the architect behind Karlštejn as we know it today. He even created an English park featuring a rose garden around the castle.

Franz Ferdinand placed a vast number of antiques and artworks from the Este estate at Konopiště. His strong passion was hunting, and throughout his life, he hunted nearly 275,000 animals. His assassination triggered the start of World War I. After the war ended in 1918, his orphaned children lost their property in Czechoslovakia, and later, the Nazis sent them to the Dachau concentration camp, where they remarkably survived the terrible conditions.