Střekov Castle (, ) is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

in the Central Bohemian Highlands in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is perched atop a cliff above the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

river. It was built in the 14th century to protect the waterway and collect duties on transported goods, and is renowned for its impressive views. It has enchanted a variety of visiting artists, most notably

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, and

Karel Hynek Mácha Karel Hynek Mácha () (16 November 1810 – 5 November 1836) was a Czechs, Czech Romanticism, romantic poet. His poem ''Máj'' is among the most important poems in the history of Czech literature. Biography Mácha was born on 16 November 1810 ...

. The castle is especially well known from the painting by

Ludwig Richter Adrian Ludwig Richter (September 28, 1803June 19, 1884) was a German painter and etcher, who was strongly influenced by Erhard and Daniel Chodowiecki, Chodowiecki. He was a representative of both Romanticism and Biedermeier styles. He was th ...

called ''Passing the Schreckenstein'' (''Überfahrt am Schreckenstein'') which hangs in the

Galerie Neue Meister The (, ''New Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 300 paintings from the 19th century until today, including works from Otto Dix, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. The gallery also exhibits a number of sculpture ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. The castle is perched atop a steep,

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

ic, clinkstone rock that rises steeply to 100 metres above the Elbe and is the symbol of

North Bohemia North Bohemia (, ) is a region in the north of the Czech Republic. Location North Bohemia roughly covers the present-day NUTS regional unit of ''CZ04 Severozápad'' and the western part of ''CZ05 Severovýchod''. From an administrative perspec ...

. Large parts of the castle have survived or been rebuilt, including the

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...

palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval '' Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson ...

and castle walls.

History

The castle was built in 1316 for King

John of Bohemia John of Bohemia, also called the Blind or of Luxembourg (; ; ; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting ...

, the father of the Emperor Charles IV, to guard an important trade route to Germany. Schreckenstein was first mentioned in 1319, when Pešek of Weitmühl was given the new castle as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

. Only shortly afterwards, Schreckenstein came into the possession of the Bohemian House of Wartenberg from Tetschen (now Děčín). In the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

(1419–1434), many persecuted Catholics found refuge on Schreckenstein. After changing hands several times, the castle was acquired by the

Lobkowicz family The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is an important Bohemian noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest noble families of the region. Over the cent ...

in 1563 when Wenzel Popel of Lobkowicz became

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

. Around 1570, the castle was rebuilt and expanded. In 1601, the castle passed into the direct possession of the House of Lobkowicz. At the beginning of the 17th century, the castle was no longer permanently inhabited and gradually fell into disrepair. Its strategic importance led to occupations by Imperial Habsburg, Saxon, and Swedish forces during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, as well as successive sieges by Austrian and Prussian armies during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. It was plundered several times and was heavily damaged during those conflicts, being abandoned as a military installation by the end of the 18th century. However, the 1800s saw many poets and artists visiting the castle, drawn by a new trend of interest in romantic ruins. Well known painters such as

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

and Ernst Gustav Doerell stayed at the castle and captured it in romantic paintings. Goethe declared the view from the castle's position above the Elbe to be the most beautiful in Central Europe, while Richard Wagner's opera ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265. His name ...

'' was supposedly inspired by his visit to Schreckenstein. In 1830, the first castle inn was set up in the former domestic courtyard, and it still exists today. In 1948, the castle was confiscated from the Lobkowicz family after almost 400 years and became state property. In 1953, the monument was placed under a preservation order. In 1990, the castle was returned to the Lobkowicz family. Burg Strekov Burgtor

The first preservation work on the castle ruins was carried out at the end of the 19th century and in 1911–1912. A

caesura 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase beg ...

for the castle was the construction of the Elbe Sluice in 1923–1936 directly beneath the castle rock. As important as this dam is for safe navigation on the Elbe, the facility is a particularly blatant example of the destruction of a cultural landscape. In the 1999 film ''The Hard Dracula'', Střekov served as the backdrop for the castle of

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been i ...

. Wine known as Schreckensteiner was grown in the vicinity of the castle in the 19th century.Schnabel (1845), p. 119.

Architecture

Střekov Castle is divided into two sections connected by an arched bridge spanning a natural moat—an unusual style for the 14th century, when it was first built. The castle's semi-circular

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s, inspired by French architecture, are possibly the first example of that type of defensive design in Bohemia. The connecting round tower, a smaller tower guarding the castle entrance, and an irregular oblong section of the castle date back to the very earliest period of construction.

External links

*

at burgenwelt.de
Description of castle
on hrady.cz {{DEFAULTSORT:Strekov Castle Ústí nad Labem District Castles in the Ústí nad Labem Region Museums in the Ústí nad Labem Region Buildings and structures in Ústí nad Labem Ruined castles in the Czech Republic

History

Architecture

Further reading

External links