Šaunštejn Castle

Šaunštejn Castle (German: Schauenstein, also Hohenleipaer Raubschloss) is a rock castle near Vysoká Lípa (Hohenleipa) in the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic. Today only a few ruins remain of the original castle. Preserved are the foundations of the wooden superstructure, several rooms that were chiselled-out of the rock and the cistern.

The castle was built by the Berka of Dubá family from Lípa in the 14th century to protect the Old Bohemian Road (Alte Böhmerstraße), the trade route from Bohemia to Lusatia. From 1435 it belonged to the Wartenbergs who used it as a base for raids. In the 15th century it was besieged several times by the Wettins and the Lusatian League and finally destroyed.

In clear weather the view extends from the Kaltenberg, the Lausche, the Rosenberg, over the Hoher Schneeberg to the Ore Mountains.

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

Šaunštejn Castle ranks #5,705 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #174 of the 203 mapped in Czech Republic. Founded c. 1400, it is older than 53% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 13 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Děčín, 15 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 ↗