Landstejn Castle

Landstejn was built in the first half of the thirteenth century on a granite ridge at the point where Bohemia, Moravia and Austria met, and it is generally described as the best-preserved Romanesque castle of its type in Central Europe. The core is a palace block flanked by two square towers of the same height, standing to their full height with the original round-arched windows and doorways, later wrapped in Gothic and Renaissance fortification with a bastioned outer ward when firearms changed what a castle needed. It was struck by lightning and burned in 1771 and has been a ruin since, which is why the medieval fabric survives without later domestic rebuilding. The towers are climbable and the view runs over the granite and pond country of Ceska Kanada into Austria. There is an exhibition on the castle's building phases, and concerts are held in the ward.

History

Archaeologists have found evidence of an even older castle beneath Landštejn, at Pomezí, and the present castle is thought to have been built by the Moravian Přemyslids as a military base; when it is first recorded, in 1231, it was the largest Romanesque castle in the Czech lands. How the Vítkovci came to hold it is not recorded, but the lords of Landštejn grew in influence, and under Vilém of Landštejn their estates included Třeboň, Lomnice and Nové Hrady; in 1317 he accepted a feudal obligation and became an adviser to King John of Bohemia, and he was on friendly terms with Charles IV. In 1381 Konrád Krajíř of Krajka obtained the estate, and his family, who held it for nearly two centuries, strengthened the fortifications and built new palaces round the five-cornered courtyard. Anna Roupovská, the last of the Krajířs, sold it in 1579 to Štěpán of Eincing, several owners followed quickly, and the Herbersteins held it from 1685 to 1816. In 1771 lightning struck one of the towers and the castle burned out, fell into ruin and served the local people as building material, and after a long inheritance dispute it passed to Baron Ferdinand Sternbach in 1846 (Wikipedia, Landštejn Castle).

What's there

• Twin square Romanesque towers - standing full height with original openings.
• A palace block between them - the thirteenth-century core, unaltered.
• Later bastioned fortification - the outer ward added for firearms.
• A view into Austria - over the granite and pond country from the towers.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

It is a ruin with no roofed interiors. Tower stairs are steep and close in bad weather. Seasonal opening only. The area has minimal services and poor public transport.

Nearby

Slavonice and its sgraffito square are ten kilometres away.

Key facts