Medieval castles in Czech Republic

Seeberg Castle

Seeberg or Ostroh Castle, which was founded in the 1200s, belongs to the oldest landmarks in the region. It stands on a high rocky spur above a brook not far from Františkovy Lázně. It was probably founded as the manor house of ministeriales subject to the imperial palatinate in Cheb. Despite being almost destroyed by several fires and frequently plundered by enemy armies, Seeberg Castle has survived to our time thank ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Poustka, Czech Republic

Klenová Castle

Klenová castle is a large castle located in southwest Bohemia near the town of Klatovy. Only ruins remain from the original castle but buildings of a new chateau were added in the 19th century. Klenová castle was built in 1291 as a part of the frontier defence system. Kryštof Harant z Polžic a Bezdružic, a writer and musician from the nobility, was born here in 1564. Between the 17th and 18th centuries the castle f ...
Founded: 1291 | Location: Klatovy, Czech Republic

Krašov Castle

Krašov castle was founded in 1232 by Jetřich of the Hroznatovec family. It stood on a rocky promontory above the river Berounka and the Brodeslav brook. In the 13th century, the castle was rebuilt in the late Gothic style, a new palace was added and the fortifications were modified. The construction of the fort probably took place in the 15th century. In the 16th century, it was rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau and in ...
Founded: 1232 | Location: Kralovice, Czech Republic

Zvíkov Castle

Zvíkov, often called 'the king of Czech castles', is located at the junction of the Vltava and Otava rivers. It stands on a difficult-to-access and steep promontory above the confluence of the Vltava and Otava rivers. The castle is one of the most important early-Gothic castles in Czech lands. The area was inhabited as early as prehistoric times, when the Celts built a fort here in the 1st century AD. The ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Písek, Czech Republic

Kasperk Castle

Kašperk Castle (Karlsberg) is said to be the most highly located royal castle in Bohemia. Its elevation is 886 metres above sea level). Kašperk Castle was founded in 1356 by Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Charles IV to protect Bohemia"s borders. Historians and scholars believe the castle was built, primarily, for three reasons. The first was about security. Bohemia needed to bolster their border defense ag ...
Founded: 1356 | Location: Kašperské Hory, Czech Republic

Jánský vrch Castle

Jánský vrch castle stands on a hill above the town of Javorník in the north-western edge of Czech Silesia, in area what was a part of the Duchy of Nysa. For most of its history the castle belonged to the Prince-bishops of Breslau (Wrocław) in Silesia. The castle is first mentioned in written sources in 1307, when it was still the property of the Princes of Svidník. In the 1348, they sold the castle to the Prince-bis ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Javorník, Czech Republic

Hnevín Castle

Hněvín Castle was named after the hill it was built upon. Archaeological investigations have uncovered the remains of a castle that was there in the 9th century, but a stone castle was probably built by the Hrabišics, the owners of Most. Wenceslaus I granted Most royal city status in the 12th century and the castle becoming the seat of the district administrator. In the 13th century, the castle was brought by Wenc ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Most, Czech Republic

Sloup Castle

Sloup Castle is a rock castle in the municipality of Sloup v Čechách. It takes its name from the special appearance of the freestanding 35-metre high sandstone rocks (its name literally means 'column'), into which it was carved in the 14th century. The castle was first mentioned in records dating from 1324 owned by Čeněk of Ojvína. It was established beside a salt trade route from Meissen to Česká Lípa ...
Founded: 14th century | Location: Sloup v Čechách, Czech Republic

Kumburk Castle

At the beginning of the 14th century, the noble family of Vartemberk ordered the building of a castle on the hill near Nová Paka. It was originally called Goldenberk or Kolmburk, today`s Kumburk. Because of massive renovation work, we do not know much about the original look of the castle. At the northeastern side, there are remnants of probably a walled fortification that may have been developed along the whole core st ...
Founded: 14th century | Location: Syřenov, Czech Republic

Nejdek Castle

Nejdek Castle history is unclear. According to hypotheses, the castle was built from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century. According to the feudal letter of 1341, the first documented castle owner was the knight Konrad Plick. At the beginning of the Thirty Years War the castle was probably still there and inhabited. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, rule came to Count Hermann Czernin in ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Nejdek, Czech Republic

Radyne Castle

Radyně Castle, like the similarly conceived Kasperk, represents the height of the 14th-century trend towards the merging of castle buildings. When the castle of Starý Plzenec fell into disrepair in the first half of the 13th century, it was necessary to build a new centre of royal power for the administration of the region of Plzeň. Construction apparently began in 1353, during the rule of Charles IV, and was complete ...
Founded: 1353 | Location: Starý Plzenec, Czech Republic

Buchlov Castle

The Buchlov royal castle was built in the first half of the 13th century, but archaeological finds suggest that the area around Buchlov castle was settled in the oldest periods of civilization. The first castle was created with two massive prismatic towers situated on opposite parts of a rocky plateau. A high palace on the southern part of the yard was built at the same time and it was surrounded by a wall. The second co ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Buchlovice, Czech Republic

Tolstejn Castle Ruins

The Tolštejn Castle (now reduced to ruins) was built in 1278 as part of the Zittau region"s defense structure. George of Poděbrady ordered the castle to be seized shortly after the Hussite Wars and after many conflicts, the Tolštejn dominion was taken by 1471 by two Saxon princes, Ernest and Albrecht. During the Thirty Years War, the army of the Austrian Emperor occupied the castle. In 1607, the Swedi ...
Founded: 1278 | Location: Varnsdorf, Czech Republic

Kadan Castle

In the 13th century, the town of Kadaň was promoted to a 'Royal City'. It began to thrive and a new town was built on the heights above the river, with a castle and Franciscan monastery. The castle was mentioned first time in 1289. It was established as a four-wing Premyslid castle with a housing palace over the river. It served as the seat of the royal burgrave – the administrator of the Kadan region. The ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Kadaň, Czech Republic

Andelská Hora Castle

Andělská Hora, originally called Engelsburg, is a castle above the village of Andělská Hora, about 7 kilometres southeast of Karlovy Vary. The ruins of the castle stands upon a rock overlooking the village of Andělská Hora which lies just below. It was founded at the turn of the 14th to the 15th century by Boreš z Rýznburk, a noblemen from the Rýznburk family, as protection for their estates. The castle was destr ...
Founded: 14th century | Location: Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Velhartice Castle

The first written mention of Velhartice settlement is from 1318. However, the Gothic Velhartice Castle was built already in 1290-1310 by a nobleman who later became courtier and close friend of the Emperor Charles IV. During the Thirty Years" War, Emperor Ferdinand II gave the castle to one of his generals, Don Balthazar de Marradas who, in 1628, sold it to Don Martin de Hoeff Huerta who bought it for his beautif ...
Founded: 1290-1310 | Location: Velhartice, Czech Republic

Chod Castle

The Chod castle was founded in mid-13th century together with a town. It stands in the south-west of Domažlice and has an oblong ground plan. The south and west sides of the building with roll-shaped tower were formed by the town ramparts wall. Czech Kings, especially John of Luxembourg and his son Charles, liked to stay here and advantaged of the hospitality of this castle. The castle fulfilled its original function on ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Domažlice, Czech Republic

Krupka Castle Ruins

Krupka castle was probably founded by John of Bohemia sometime around the year 1320 when the king wanted to boost fortifications in the border region with Saxony. King John donated the castle, together with the town of Krupka, the tin mines and Trmice in 1330 to the Meissen noble Thimoteus (Těma) of Kolditz. Thimoteus subsequently purchased the Kirchlice fort and in 1335 made a contract with the Lords of Bergau to adju ...
Founded: c. 1320 | Location: Krupka, Czech Republic

Kokorin Castle

Kokořín Castle was built around 1320 by order of Hynek Berka of Dubé. At the close of the 15th century the castle was heavily damaged during the Hussite Wars and renovated in the late Gothic style by the lords of Klinštejn. Since the middle of the 17th century Kokořín had been tenantless and it deteriorated. The ruins were not bought until 1894 by Václav Špaček of ...
Founded: 1320 | Location: Mělník, Czech Republic

Ronsperk Castle

In 1459 the market town of Poběžovice was bought by a lower nobleman Dobrohost of Drštka by Skořice na Rokycansku. At the latest in 1470, he left the keep and had built a late-Gothic solid water castle called Nový Ronšperk ('New Ronšperk'). Since then he was known as Dobrohost of Ronšperk, and Poběžovice was renamed Ronšperk. In 1864, the castle and the manor were bought by the noble family Coudenhove ...
Founded: c. 1470 | Location: Poběžovice, Czech Republic

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Monte d'Accoddi

Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.

The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.

The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.

Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.

The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.

The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.