Czech Republic · 13th century
Bezděz Castle (Czech: hrad Bezděz) is a Gothic castle in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It is located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Česká Lípa. Its construction began before 1264 by order of King Ottokar II of Bohemia.
The royal castle of Bezděz was one of the most important Gothic castles in the Czech lands until its destruction in the Thirty Years' War. Erected between 1260 and 1280 on the phonolite hill of Velký Bezděz, 604 metres (1,982 ft) above sea level, it became the characteristic landmark of the local landscape and met the demands for an inaccessible as well as respectable royal castle.
Text adapted from “Bezděz Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Bezděz Castle ranks #1,143 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #27 of the 243 mapped in Czech Republic. Founded 1264, it is older than 66% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,262 times in the last 60 days, more than 87% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 55,000 visitors in 2022. 13 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Liberec, 34 km away. It is one of the 189 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Bohemia. See how Czech Republic compares in the castle statistics.
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