Rabi Castle

Rabi stands on a limestone ridge above the Otava and covers a larger area than any other castle ruin in Bohemia - three wards in a line along the rock, with a massive square keep, a chapel, and a curtain wall reinforced with round bastions when artillery arrived. It grew from the fourteenth century as the seat of the Rysmberk family, controlling the gold-panning and the trade road along the river. Its place in Czech history is a single incident: the Hussite commander Jan Zizka besieged and took it in 1421, and tradition holds that during the siege a splinter cost him his remaining eye, after which he commanded blind until his death. It was devastated in the Thirty Years' War, allowed to stand afterwards only on condition that it was not repaired, and has been a ruin since. The keep and the walls are climbable and the view runs over the Otava valley to the Sumava foothills. Concerts and re-enactment are held in the wards.

History

The name may come from the German raben, raven, or from a mangled Czech name for a sparrow's peak. Rabí is first mentioned in 1380, though its founding date is unknown; the Lords of Velhartice probably established it after 1300 to protect the trade routes along the Otava and watch over its gold-bearing deposits, building a strong palace, ramparts and a keep, and the next owners, the Švihovský of Rýzmburk family, added the outer ward and two square towers. The Hussites took the castle twice in 1420-1421, and legend says that during the second siege a splinter from a pear tree, struck by a crossbow bolt, hit Jan Žižka in his only good eye. From 1479 the provincial governor Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk had the castle enlarged under the master builder Benedikt Rejt, with new living quarters and fortifications on three tiers and ramparts up to 6 metres wide, but the work exhausted the family's finances and the defences were never completed. His son sold the estate in 1549, the Chanov family bought it in 1570, and the Thirty Years' War devastated the castle; after 1650 Ferdinand III ordered it destroyed, it was spared on condition that it not be repaired, and local peasants took its stone. The Lamberk family, owners from 1708, gave it in 1920 for a symbolic price to a Horažďovice society for the preservation of monuments, and it was declared a national cultural monument in 1978 (Wikipedia, Rabí Castle).

The main sights

• The largest ruin in Bohemia - three wards strung along a limestone ridge.
• A massive square keep - climbable, with the wall walk around it.
• Artillery bastions - round towers added to the curtain when guns arrived.
• The 1421 siege site - where Zizka lost his second eye.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Before you go

It is a ruin with no roofed interiors. Seasonal opening. The walls are extensive - allow real time and expect uneven ground. Tower access closes in bad weather.

Nearby

Susice is upstream; Velhartice and Kasperk are in the Sumava foothills.

Key facts