Kokorin Castle

Kokorin was built in the first half of the fourteenth century by Hynek Berka of Duba on a sandstone spur above the valley - a small castle of the classic Bohemian type, a round tower and a palace behind a wall, using the rock itself for defence on three sides. It was damaged in the Hussite wars, listed as a cursed castle in the seventeenth century and left to fall down. In 1894 the Prague businessman Vaclav Spacek bought the ruin, and his son Jan had it rebuilt between 1911 and 1918 in a deliberately romantic manner, restoring the tower and roofing the palace, and the result is a building that looks the way the nineteenth century thought a medieval castle should look. It is still privately held by the family's descendants. The tower is climbable and gives a view over the sandstone valleys of Kokorinsko, which are the reason to be in this part of the country at all.

History

Kokořín was built in the first half of the 14th century by order of Hynek Berka of Dubá. Hussite troops captured and destroyed it in 1426, and afterwards it changed owners often, held in the 15th century by Řitka of Bezdědice and the Klinštejns and in the 16th by the Beřkovs of Šebířov and Kaplířová. From 1544 it was listed as deserted, and Emperor Ferdinand II made its fate worse by classing it among the "cursed castles", which were not allowed to be maintained because their strong position might threaten the monarch's power. In 1894 the Prague businessman Václav Špaček bought the ruins, and his son Jan had the castle rebuilt in neo-Gothic style: in 1911-1916 the architect Eduard Sochor gave it its present form, following instructions from August Sedláček and Čeněk Zíbrt. It has been a national cultural monument since 2001, and the Kokořínsko protected landscape area takes its name from it (Wikipedia, Kokořín Castle).

The main sights

• A round tower on a sandstone spur - the fourteenth-century core.
• A romantic rebuild of 1911-1918 - roofed and restored to a nineteenth-century idea.
• A climbable tower - looking over the Kokorinsko valleys.
• Private ownership - returned to and still held by the rebuilder's family.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Good to know

Much of what stands is early twentieth-century work, not medieval fabric. Seasonal opening and closed in winter. The approach road is narrow and parking is limited. The village has minimal services.

Nearby

Houska castle is north; Melnik and the Elbe confluence are south.

Key facts