Kolowrat-Krakowsky

The House of Kolowrat-Krakowsky (Czech: Kolowrat-Krakowští) is an old, historic Bohemian noble family from Central Europe.

The Kolowrat-Krakowsky branch of the Kolowrat family still exists today in the Czech Republic and the United States.

The branches were: Albrecht the Older is considered the founder of the Kolowrat family He was born in the 13th or 14th century in the village of Kolovraty in what is today the Czech Republic.

A much later descendent, Count Leopold Vilém (1727–1809), was a close friend of the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresia and a holder of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Vilém married twice and had 17 children, Count František Xaver (1783–1855), Villam's youngest son, is the common ancestor of all living Kolowrat-Krakowsky descendents.

Alexander, called Sascha, was a successful car and motorcycle racing driver but also a film producer.

When Sascha died of cancer in 1927, his brother, Jindřich Vilém Kolowrat-Krakowsky (1897–1996), became administrator of the family estate.

After the end of World War II in 1945, President Edvard Beneš of the new Czechoslovak government returned the estate to Jindřich.

In 1993, Jindřich rented the Kolowrat Palace to the National Theatre in Prague for one Czech Crown per year.

He built private wood roads that became cycle paths that connect different areas of the Upper Palatine Forest.