Czech Republic · 14th century
Hamrštejn ranks #6,643 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #212 of the 243 mapped in Czech Republic. Founded c. 1400, it is older than 50% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 758 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Liberec, 6 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.
Hamrštejn (German: Hammerstein) is a castle ruin located on the outskirts city of Liberec, Czech Republic. The stone castle was founded on a rocky outcrop, in a bend of the Lusatian Neisse. It was likely established in the 14th century and was abandoned by the mid-16th century.
Hamrštejn was built on rocky ground in a bend of the Lusatian Neisse. It lies in the territory of Liberec, in the district of Liberec XXXIII-Machnín. It is located within a conservation area of the same name that was established in the 1970s.
It is uncertain precisely when the castle was established, but it was during the first half of the 14th century. The castle was used during the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) and was captured by the forces of Jan Čapek of Sány in 1433. Hamrštejn was deserted by 1558.
The castle has been protected as a cultural monument since 1958. The ownership of the site in the modern period was unclear, but from 2010 it was owned by Lesy České republiky. The resolution of the ownership led to conservation efforts in the 2010s.
The castle is a rounded oblong shape, aligned roughly north-south and demarcated by a stone curtain wall which is in a fragmentary state and surrounded by a moat. The land enclosed by the wall is uneven, forming a saddle shape with two promontories. There were three main structures within the castle: a stone tower built on each of the promontories and a timber structure built against the curtain wall between the towers. The castle entrance was at the north end of the site. At least one of the towers and the timber structure were partly residential.
Text adapted from “Hamrštejn” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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