Orlík was founded as a royal castle by a ford on the Vltava, probably by Ottokar II of Bohemia in the second half of the 13th century. The Lords of Švamberk rebuilt it as a Renaissance château after a fire in 1508. Another fire burned it out in 1802, and a fourth story was added during repairs.
Bernard Gruber made the plans for a Romantic Gothic remodeling for the House of Schwarzenberg, carried out from 1849 to 1860. The interiors are mainly Empire style. The Hunter's Hall has quadripartite ribbed vaulting, and the chapel has a net vault. Three round towers rise above the main facade. The English-style park covers 143 hectares.
The Orlík Reservoir of 1954 to 1962 lowered the site from about 200 feet (60 m) above the river to a few meters. The Schwarzenbergs, who had lost the castle after 1948, regained it in the 1990s.
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