Rotštejn Castle

Rotštejn (German: Rothenstein) is a ruined rock castle around 9 kilometres (6 mi) east of Turnov on the border of the Nature Reserve "Klokočské rocks". The castle was partially built of stone walls and partially carved in the sandstone rocks where it stands. The most famous owner of the castle though was Wok II of Rotštejn.

The castle was built shortly before 1250 by members of the Markwartic family. The first owner cited was Jaroslav of Hrutwice, today Hruštice, who built the castle for his son Vok of Rotštejn. For his second son, Zdeněk, he built Valdštejn Castle and became the founder of the Waldstein family.

In 1360 the castle was in the possession of Ješek of Rotštejn, who obtained permission from Charles IV to hold a weekly market in the nearby village of Klokočí. In the year 1415, the Rotštejn family died out and the whole estate fell to Andrew and Vanek Paldrovi Varina, who owned the entire estate throughout the Hussite Wars. The castle was probably burned by the Hussites, unlike other neighboring castles, such as Návarov Castle. According to other sources, the castle was conquered in 1426, but its landlord lived on a farm in the nearby village of Klokočí. Hussite presence at the castle is not confirmed by archaeological findings and written sources. In a later written mention of the castle in 1540, it is reported as abandoned, with the rocks and walls demolished in the courtyard.

To further contributed to the destruction of the castle was the natural erosion of the sandstone rocks. In a report of 1514 the castle was considered abandoned with walls and rocks warped in the courtyard. During the Thirty Years' War in the beginning of the 17th century, this place was used to shelter people from the soldiers. Residents were hiding in cavities carved into the sandstone rocks that were mistakenly considered part of the castle stables.

Rotštejn Castle was erected with strong elements of brick architecture. Adjacent rocks, which also served as part of the defense system. Safety elements were supplemented by the usual means of that time, such as gateways, bridges, bastion. These structural safety elements, however, have been preserved, but can only be seen in carved niches. All castle walls disappeared. The form of the castle was preserved in written documents.

Since 1988 the civil protection association of Klokočské rocks led chatelaine H.T. Hlubučková.

Text adapted from “Rotštejn Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Rotštejn Castle ranks #4,524 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #128 of the 203 mapped in Czech Republic. Founded c. 1300, it is older than 63% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Wikidata records about 13,000 visitors in 2022. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Liberec, 23 km away. It is one of the 159 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Bohemia. See how Czech Republic compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗