Svihov Castle

Svihov was rebuilt between about 1480 and 1520 for the Ryzmberk family as a water castle on flat ground beside the Uhlava - two concentric moats fed by the river, an inner castle with two palaces and corner towers, and an outer wall with bastions, the whole thing designed by Benedikt Ried and Hans Spiess when artillery was changing fortification. It was condemned to demolition after the Thirty Years War as a potential rebel stronghold, and the owners simply did not carry it out beyond partly draining the moats, which is why it survives. The chapel has a late Gothic winged altar and a wall painting of St George in which the dragon is set against a recognisable view of the castle itself. Restoration has re-flooded the inner moat. Czech fairy-tale films have been shot here repeatedly, most famously Tri orisky pro Popelku exteriors.

History

Švihov was built by the Rýzmberk of Skála family. In the Hussite Wars it was besieged, and the garrison surrendered after the water of the moats was drained away. Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk had it rebuilt in late Gothic style between 1480 and 1489, and his sons continued the work with the architect Benedikt Rejt, who designed the moat system with massive horseshoe-shaped bastions and finished by 1520, using the same scheme at Rabí. In the Thirty Years' War the Swedish army besieged it without success, and afterwards Emperor Ferdinand III ordered it demolished, possibly fearing it as an unconquerable fort of anti-Habsburg resistance; the demolition was postponed again and again, only part of the rampart was damaged, and the palaces, chapel and bastions served as a granary, which lowered their status but saved them from rebuilding (Wikipedia, Švihov Castle).

The main sights

• Two rings of water moat - concentric, fed from the Uhlava, partly re-flooded.
• Ried and Spiess fortification - artillery-era design of about 1480-1520.
• A late Gothic winged altar - in the chapel, with a St George wall painting.
• The castle in its own painting - the dragon set against a view of the building.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

Guided tours only, on set routes, and seasonal. Closed Mondays outside high summer. Film-location tours are popular and book up. The town is small.

Nearby

Klatovy and its catacombs are ten kilometres south; Plzen is north.

Key facts