Former late gothic fortress was built in 1520-30 by pledger Petr from Žerotín. Well-educated nobleman Ferdinand Hoffman from Grünbüchl both the royal domain in 1583 into hereditary tenancy, he was the president of the court chamber, courtier, close friend of Rudolf II. and a cousin of the last Rožmberks Vilém and Petr Vok. The construction works started in 1586 and the fortress changed into a pleasant renaissance castle. When Ferdinand left Prague imperial court because of his Lutheran belief, Janovice became his asylum. Excellent financier and mining expert built smelting works on his domain according to his local model and he was the impulse, which caused modernization of the whole iron works in our lands. Chapel in the form of roundel was added to the castle in 1656-8 and shortly before the death of Wolfgang Bedřich in 1663 was the castle reconstructed into early baroque style by the constructor Alessandro Canneval. After the Dietrichstein period went the domain by marriage to widow Marie Arnoštka from Gallas into the tenancy of Jilemnice Earls of Hrrach and the castle was the secondary residence of the Czech family. Ferdinand Bonaventura executed in 1763-5 significant reconstruction of the castle with the help of an important constructor Gottfried Weisser in the late baroque style. He did the southern wing and a part of the eastern wing in the shape of opened letter L. Enormously spacious, perfect and valuable building was constructed. The castle clock started to strike in 1764 and the brewery extension was finished in 1766. Today's look of the castle was finished in 1827-50. The inside modifications were done in the 19th and 20th century and the last outside modifications come from 1901. The castle became a permanent residence of the Janovice family of Harrach during the ownership of Karel Alfréd in the second half of the 19th century. The family line died out in 1937 by the death of an expert in agriculture and philanthropist František Arnošt. His daughter Anna Marie was the last owner, the wife of Hungarian diplomat František Zikmun Rosta – Forgache from Barkocz. The hardest moment began after 1945. The property confiscated by Nazis, who were pursuing the family, part of the inventories was exported to Hungary, some parts of it were placed at the Liběchov castle and majority of it was destroyed or stolen. A certain improvement was achieved by the arrival of the Archive of the Olomouc region in 1949 and other funds were added later. The archive was placed on deposit in 2002 in Opava and Olomouc. The castle is empty with signs of insensitive treatment, but dry and not in unchangeable condition. Even though the costs are going to be large, its revitalization is not a problem.
