Trosky Castle is a castle ruin located some 10 km south of Semily

Semily

Semily is a town in the Semily District, Liberec Region, of northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It has about 9,000 inhabitants. One important landmark is the St Peter and Paul Church, from the beginning of the previous century. The town has two notable museums: the Museum and Regional Gallery...

, Liberec Region

Liberec Region

Liberec Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the northernmost part of its historical region of Bohemia. Region borders with Saxony, and Poland...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. It is one of the most famous Czech castles and is situated on the summits of two basalt volcanic plugs

Volcanic plug

A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an...

. On the lower peak (47 m) is the two-storey structure called Baba (Old Woman), and on the higher outcrop (57 m) is the four-sided structure known as Panna (Virgin). The castle is a landmark which cannot be missed in the countryside known as Český ráj (Bohemian Paradise).

History

The castle was established by Čeněk of Vartenberk

Cenek of Wartenberg

Čeněk of Wartenberg was a commander of the Royalist Bohemian forces at the start of the Hussite Wars. Up until the first half of 1420 he was a commander of the Utraquist League, a moderate faction of the Hussite movement...

 in the second half of the 14th century. Two towers were constructed, one on top of each rock, and various residential buildings and outhouses erected between them. Three rings of fortified walls protected the complex. After Čeněk's death the castle came into the possession of King Wenceslas

Wenceslaus, King of the Romans

Wenceslaus ) was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the Luxembourg dynasty...

 IV, from whom it was acquired by Ota of Begov, of the Bergov dynasty. Though Ota the Younger of Trosk was a zelous Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

, it did not stop him raiding the monastery in Opatovice

Opatovice nad Labem

Opatovice nad Labem is a village in Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has cca 2,200 inhabitants. A large power station is located here.-External links:*...

 and stealing its famous treasure, which he is said to have hidden in Trosky Castle, supposedly in an underground cellar blocked by a huge boulder. No one could move the boulder, which was eventually covered by scree

Scree

Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

, permanently cutting off the way to the precious objects.

During the Hussite wars

Hussite Wars

The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...

 Trosky was a center of the pro-Catholic sides. It is therefore not surprising that in all probability the castle was never completely conquered by the Hussites or any other enemies. As late as 1428, shortly after the castle burned down, it was under siege by Jan Kralovec, captain of the Táborite Army. From 1438 onwards the robber knight Kryštov Šov of Helfenburg and his companion Švejkar settled in it to tyrannize the villagers in the surrounding countryside, before the people of Zhořelec and Žitavy banded together to capture them. Margareth of Bergov, the widow of the original owner Ota of Bergov, made Trosky into her residence by 1444. In 1468 the castle was property of William of Hasenburg who kept it until 1497. After that several noble families owned the castle, although its significance declined. In 1648, during the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

, it was burned down completely by the Imperial Army and left in ruins. In 1681 the enlightened Jesuit Bohuslav Balbín visited it; possibly the first documented example of a trip, the sole purpose of which was to research a historical sight or area.

In the 19th century a greater degree of interest was shown and romantic modifications were made to the ruins of the castle. It was decided to create a staircase leading to the Panna tower. Work was begun in 1841-43, but was not completed.

External links

Hrad Trosky Trosky castle