Helfstyn Castle

Helfstyn spreads over a ridge above the Becva at the Moravian Gate, the low pass between the Carpathians and the Sudetes that has carried traffic since prehistory, and it is one of the largest castle ruins in Central Europe - five gates in succession, a palace, a bastioned artillery fortification of the sixteenth century and a long series of wards, covering about seven and a half hectares. In the seventeenth century it was made into a fortress against the Ottoman threat, abandoned soon after and later pulled down with its owners' approval, and it has been a ruin since. Since 1982 it has hosted Hefaiston, an international meeting of artistic blacksmiths held each August, one of the most important events of its kind in the world, which brings smiths from dozens of countries and has left a permanent collection of forged sculpture around the castle. In 2020 the ruined palace was given a controversial modern roof and glazed walkways, which won architecture awards and divides local opinion.

History

Helfštýn was probably founded at the end of the 13th century by the robber knight Friduš, or Helfrid, of Linava, who used it as a base for robbing merchants in the lawless years after the murder of Wenceslaus III in 1306; the young King John sent troops against him, and though Friduš died, the castle kept his name. At the turn of the 14th century the Lords of Kravaře acquired it and made it the centre of their estates, rebuilding it as a Gothic fortress, and they held it until 1447; it then passed among Moravian noble families, among them the Pernštejns. It withstood many sieges - Matthias Corvinus failed to take it in 1468, as did the Swedes and Danes in the Thirty Years' War. Vilém of Pernštejn gave it its long shape early in the 16th century, with bastions and fortified outer wards, and a Renaissance palace with a chapel followed. Under the Dietrichsteins it was made an almost impregnable fortress against the Ottoman threat in the 17th century, but it was abandoned soon after; in the 18th century the robber band of Onderka lived in it, and it was pulled down with the owners' approval. From the 19th century romantics came to see it, conservation began in 1911 and archaeological research has gone on since 1978 (Wikipedia, Helfštýn Castle).

Highlights

• Five gates in succession - a ruin of about seven and a half hectares along the ridge.
• Sixteenth-century artillery works - bastions added when guns arrived.
• Hefaiston in August - an international meeting of artist blacksmiths held at the castle since 1982.
• A modern palace roof - the 2020 glazed intervention, admired and disliked locally.

When to go

April to October; August for Hefaiston. Half a day.

Things to know

It is a ruin - extensive, uneven and exposed. Seasonal opening. Hefaiston weekend fills the site and the roads. The 2020 roofing is modern architecture inserted into a ruin, which not everyone likes.

Nearby

Lipnik nad Becvou is below; Teplice nad Becvou and its caves are west.

Key facts