Sloup v Cechach

The rock at Sloup is a free-standing sandstone block about a hundred metres long and thirty-five high, and from the fourteenth century it was turned into a castle by cutting rather than building: chambers, staircases, corridors, a cistern, window openings and a chapel were all excavated directly into the stone, with only minor masonry added. It was a Berka of Duba stronghold, later a robber base, and it declined. In the eighteenth century a hermitage was established on it - Samuel Gorner lived here as a hermit and cut further rooms and a chapel, and later owners added romantic garden features and carvings, so the block carries four hundred years of cutting in one surface. The route through it climbs stairs and passages inside the rock to a platform on top with a view over the surrounding sandstone country. It is one of the most complete rock castles in Central Europe.

What you actually see

• Rooms cut into one block - chambers, stairs, cistern and chapel excavated in stone.
• A hermitage phase - eighteenth-century cutting added by a resident hermit.
• A platform on top - reached through the rock, with a view over the sandstone country.
• Four centuries in one surface - castle, hermitage and romantic carving together.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Passages are narrow, steep and slippery, and there is real exposure at the top - not for anyone uneasy with heights or confined spaces. Seasonal opening. It closes in ice.

Nearby

Panska skala is west; Ceska Lipa is south.