Pecka Castle is a gem of the Podkrkonoší region. From the castle lookout, you can see the central massif of the Krkonoše Mountains with the peaks of Sněžka and Černá hora, or the highest point of the region, Zvičina.
Pecka Castle was founded in the early 13th century. In the late 16th century, the Gothic castle was rebuilt to a Renaissance residence. It flourished at the beginning of the 17th century when it was inhabited by Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (1564–1621), an educated Renaissance intellectual. He spent his last and the most fruitful period of his life there. Kryštof Harant went down in Czech history as a traveller, composer, writer and politician.
The tour of Pecka Castle includes a tour of the reconstructed Harant Palace where there are seven interior rooms, a torture chamber and a basement vault. The exposition on the first and second floor focuses on the history of the castle, the life and work of Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice, and generally on the period of Renaissance and Early Baroque.
An interesting part is the tour of a stylish open-hearth kitchen with an operating Renaissance fireplace and the basement vault with the torture chamber. The best known instruments of torture are on display in the torture chamber, from the rack and windlass to the Spanish boot. The tour is livened up with an authentic demonstration of melodies from a hundred-year-old harmonicon. There is also an interesting well; it is illuminated and 56 metres deep.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.