Trosky Castle

Trosky is a castle built on the remains of a volcano. Two basalt plugs rise out of a low ridge, and a medieval builder put a tower on each, linking them with walls across the saddle between. The towers were given names, the Maiden for the slimmer one and the Crone for the squatter, and they have been ruins for centuries, which is exactly why the shape works: no roofs, no restoration, just two stumps of masonry on two stumps of rock. From the accessible tower the view runs over the sandstone country of the Bohemian Paradise, patchwork fields and villages, and on clear days the Krkonose ridge on the horizon.

History

Trosky, whose name means "ruins", was founded by Čeněk of Wartenberg in the second half of the 14th century, earlier than its first written mention in 1396: a tower on each of two basalt plugs, the lower two-storey Baba (Crone) and the higher four-sided Panna (Maiden), with residential buildings between them and three rings of walls. Financial trouble in the early 1390s made Čeněk hand it to King Wenceslaus IV, from whom Otto III of Bergau acquired it, and legend says Otto IV hid here the treasure he stole from the monastery at Opatovice, behind a boulder no one could move. In the Hussite Wars it was a Catholic stronghold and was never fully taken; in 1428, shortly after it burned, Jan Královec of the Taborites besieged it, and from 1438 the robber knight Kryštof Šov of Helfenburg used it until the towns of the Lusatian League defeated him in 1444. In 1455 it was sold to Jan Zajíc of Hazmburk and joined to the Kost estate; when he opposed King George of Poděbrady, royal troops besieged Trosky in 1469 and the garrison surrendered after 28 August, but Zajíc was pardoned and his family kept it until 1497. Later owners included the Šelmberks, Bibrštejns and Lobkowiczes, and by the second half of the 16th century it was no longer a noble residence (Wikipedia, Trosky Castle).

What to look for

• The two towers - the Maiden and the Crone, each set on its own basalt plug.
• The tower viewpoint - the platform reached by stairs and ladders inside one of the towers.
• The connecting walls - the ruined curtain and courtyard strung across the saddle between the rocks.
• The Bohemian Paradise panorama - sandstone ridges, fields and distant mountains from the summit.

When to go

April to October, when the towers are open and the internal stairs and ladders are in use; the site closes for winter. Clear autumn days give the longest views and thin the crowds. Weekends in July and August are busy with families, and the last stretch of ladder can queue in both directions.

Practical notes

The approach is a steady twenty-minute climb from the car park, and the final section inside the tower is a steep metal ladder that will not suit everyone. The ruins themselves are small, so the appeal is the shape and the view rather than anything to explore. In poor visibility there is little reason to go up at all.

Nearby

Hruba Skala and the Prachov Rocks are within a short drive, and Turnov is the regional base.

Key facts