The ruins of the Lichnice Castle (also: ''Lichtenburk Castle'') are on the edge of the Iron Mountain near the village of Podhradí, in the municipality of

Třemošnice Třemošnice () is a town in Chrudim District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,300 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Hedvikov, Kubíkovy Duby, Lhůty, Podhradí, Skoranov, Starý Dvůr and Závratec are a ...

, about east of

Čáslav Čáslav (; german: Tschaslau) is a town in Kutná Hora District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Adminis ...

History

The castle was probably a constructed as a royal base in the first half of the 13th century. It was first mentioned in 1261, when it was in possession of Smil of Ronow, who called himself ''Smil of Lichtenburg'' and thereby created the ''von Lichtenburg'' family. The castle had a triangular floor plan with two residential towers. In the 14th century alterations were made to the castle, which was reacquired by the

Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of B ...

in 1410. During 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 Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the ...

, the castle was conquered in 1421, and besieged unsuccessfully in 1428. In 1490, the castle and estate of Lichtenburg were acquired by the

Trčka of Lípa Trčka (feminine Trčková) is a Czech surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Erdmann Trčka von Lípa (1599–1634), Bohemian nobleman and lieutenant field marshal of the Thirty Years' War * Aleš Trčka (born 1961), Czech cyclis ...

family, who rebuilt the castle in a

late Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by t ...

style. The castle lost its importance at the end of the 16th Century and the fortifications were dismantled. By 1700, it was already described as a ruin.

External links

Tourist information
(in Czech)
History of Lichnice
(in Czech) Castles in the Czech Republic Chrudim District Castles in the Pardubice Region Ruined castles in the Czech Republic {{CzechRepublic-castle-stub