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the spirit of the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance was interrupted by an extensive fire in 1538. Thereafter, Jan Václav Berka of Dubá (†1565) embarked on its thorough reconstruction in the Renaissance style. The most important architectural modifications concerned the western wing of the castle. A two-storey annexe was built between the hitherto free-standing square tower and the considerably smaller tower in the south-western corner of the Zwinger, substantially expanding the older mediaeval palace. Its first floor housed four spacious rooms with elaborate diamond vaults that, until today, belong among the most impressive parts of the castle. The Renaissance spirit of the castle was particularly emphasised by the envelope-pattern sgraffiti covering the previously stark stone masonry from the late 1550s. The subsequent owners, dukes of Minsterberg and Olešnice, who possessed Šternberk in the times of the Thirty Years’ War, did not interfere with its Renaissance character. The residence was repeatedly damaged during the war and from that point onwards its owners used it only as the administrative seat of the estate. The estate with the decaying castle was acquired in 1699 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein (1657–1712), who passed most of his life at his splendid seats in Vienna and South Moravia. Although the castle was repaired and at least one Baroque interior came into being during his rule, the princes never resided there. It remained on the margins of their attention throughout the Baroque age, gradually going to ruin. Despite several attempts at saving the building, none were successful until the rule of Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein (1840–1929). In 1886, the Romantic-minded Prince entrusted the modification of the castle to Carlo Gangolf Kayser (1837– 1895), whose work he had seen during the recently finished reconstruction of Castle Liechtenstein near Mödling. As their correspondence indicates, Kayser’s associate and closest collaborator, the architect Humbert Walcher von Molthein (1865– 1926), also had a certain share in the overall plan. Keyser’s architectural studio presented the Prince with a general concept of the restoration, consisting particularly in unification of the perimeter walls and puristic purging of the building of later additions, or alternatively of elements that