Kolštejn, also known as Branná, is a ruin of a castle partially converted into a chateau in Branná, Šumperk District. It stands on a rocky cliff at an elevation of about 630 meters above the Branná River in the southeastern part of the village. Since 1964, the castle and chateau complex has been protected as a cultural monument.
History
The castle is believed to have been built between 1306 and 1310. The first known owner was Jan of Wüstehube, mentioned in 1313. Later, King John of Luxembourg acquired the castle and granted it to the Lords of Lipá, confirmed by Margrave Charles in 1340. At the end of the 14th century, the castle was controlled by Hynek of Valdštejn, who frequently switched allegiances during the Hussite Wars until he was killed attempting to raid Prague in 1427. Before 1437, the castle came into the possession of Markvart of Zvole and later his son Hynek of Zvole.
After the extinction of the Kolštejn branch of their family, the estate briefly went to the Žerotíns, who sold it in 1582 to Hynek Bruntálský of Vrbno. His son Jan converted the outer bailey into a Renaissance chateau. The western part of the chateau was completed under the Liechtensteins, who acquired it after confiscations in 1622. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle housed an imperial garrison, but after the war, it became merely an administrative center. Two fires in 1770 and 1926 contributed to its decline.
Architecture
The castle core is defined by a wall running along the edge of the rocky cliff, with a thickness of 3.3 meters on the side facing the outer bailey. Behind this wall was a cylindrical tower with a diameter of 8.8 meters, later converted into a lookout in the 19th century. Only the blocked window openings in the wall and a barrel-vaulted cellar remain from the palace that likely stood along the southwestern wall. A fragment with the lower part of a portal also survives between the tower ruins and the eastern wall. During Renaissance and early Baroque modifications, the entire core was built over, but this construction was destroyed by the fire in 1770.
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