Hněvín Castle
Hrad Hněvín (Castle Observatory) | ||
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Entrance to the Hněvín Castle |
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Alternative name (s): | Hrad Most | |
Creation time : | 12th Century | |
Conservation status: | rebuilt | |
Place: | Must | |
Geographical location | 50 ° 31 '13 " N , 13 ° 38' 0.5" E | |
Height: | 397 m nm | |
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The Hněvín Castle (German: Landeswarte ) is located on the top of a cone mountain (399 m) near the town of Most ( Brüx ) in the Czech Republic . After it was converted into a restaurant at the end of the 19th century, hardly anything has survived from the once medieval castle .
history
The original castle on Zámecký vrch (Castle Hill) or vrch Hněvín , under which the royal city was built, dates back to the 12th century. Some archaeologically proven remains date from the 9th century. Built by the Hrabischitzer family (Czech: Hrabiš) and thanks to its impregnable location, protected by Lake Komořany, it belonged to the royal castles. It had a good strategic location, enough drinking water from two wells and was always well maintained. Hněvín was repeatedly besieged, but never conquered.
In the 13th century the castle was mortgaged by Wenceslas II the Branibors. After the disputes between Wenceslas IV and this noble family, the Margraves of Meissen received the castle. Only in 1406 did Wenzel get his property back. With the Treaty of Cheb in 1459 the fortress came into the possession of George of Podebrady . His son Heinrich sold it to Benesch von Weitmühl in 1480 . In 1482 the princes of Saxony met with Wladyslaw II in Most .
Since 1507 Johann von Weitmühl and from 1515 Sebastian von Weitmühl held the castle as pledge. During the rainy season of Rudolf II , the alchemist Edward Kelley and the Greek Marek Mamugny stayed there at his behest . In 1595 Rudolf II sold the castle to the city. Life was quiet until the Thirty Years War . In 1646 the Swedes took the castle by ruse. Citizens had to pay high taxes and fines. The Swedes held the castle until the Peace of Westphalia .
In 1651 the citizens of Most applied for the castle to be abandoned in order to avoid future sieges and the associated destruction and looting. From 1651 to 1653 the castle was the refuge of the overthrown Emperor Ferdinand III. , at whose behest the facility was then largely demolished. The remains were left to decay. When the city grew rich from coal mining, parts of the castle ruins were rebuilt. In the 19th century, a newly built observation tower and a restaurant were destroyed by a storm after just one year.
Heimatfreunde initiated a reconstruction at the end of the 19th century in a phase of castle romanticism. In 1896 the Association of Friends of the Schlossberg was founded. In 1906 a replica of the castle with a restaurant was built based on designs by A. Schwarzer . From the original castle there is only the division and two remains. In the inner bulwark you can still see some restored remains of round cannon bastions, built in the Romanesque style. In the rooms of today's restaurant there used to be a round tower, a chapel, a palace with a royal hall and a square tower, the remains of which can still be seen today.
Today the Hněvín is a popular destination. In addition to a hotel with a restaurant, the replica of the castle also houses a public observatory and an open-air stage. From the top of the castle hill there is a wide all-round view of Most, the southern slope of the Ore Mountains , the heights of the Central Bohemian Uplands and the North Bohemian Basin . The last reconstruction work took place in 2001.
gallery
- Pictures of the castle
See also
literature
- Werner Spickenreuther : Tour of the Hněvín in Most / Schlossberg in Brüx. In: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter. Vol. 30, Issue 2, 2008, ISSN 0232-6078 , pp. 9-12.
- Viktor Karell : Castles and palaces of the Ore Mountains and Egertal. Vol. 1, Vinzenz Uhl Verlagbuchhandlung , Kaaden , 1935. (Burg Landeswarte –Brüx - pp. 74–77)