Kamýk Castle
.jpg)
| Castle ruins (from Kamaik in Bohemia) |
|---|
| Ernst Ferdinand Oehme , 1841 |
| watercolor |
| 18 x 26.6 cm |
| Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg
Link to the picture |
The Kamýk Castle (German Kamaik ) is located in the south of the Central Bohemian Mountains in northern Bohemia ( Czech Republic ). Only a few parts of the palace and the residential tower on a steep basalt rock remain from the small castle complex . Despite the small number of remains, Kamýk Castle is one of the most striking examples of medieval castle building in Northern Bohemia.
Geographical location
The castle ruins dominate the small town of Kamýk ( Kamaik ) in the right-Elbe part of the Bohemian Central Uplands near the district town of Litoměřice ( Leitmeritz ).
history
Kamýk Castle was built in 1319 by order of the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg . The result was a system so typical for Bohemia with a central donjon ( residential tower ) on a basalt rock. In 1547 Vilém Kamýcký von Lstiboř had the castle rebuilt and a new palace was built at the foot of the central castle rock. The castle was owned by Jan Jiří Kamýcký from Lstiboř until 1628. The castle was conquered in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War . After that, the complex fell into ruin, and the castle was named desolate as early as 1650. The ruin was later popularly referred to as the steep tooth because the ruins have the appearance of a tooth.
Around 1885, the first maintenance work on the ruin took place in preparation for a planned reconstruction.
reception
Ernst Ferdinand Oehme , German Romantic painter, painted a picture The ruins of Kamaik (around 1852). The ruin, a common motif in romantic art , becomes a symbol of transience . In the foreground, on a hill opposite Kamýk, a shepherd and his flock of sheep can be seen resting under an old, spreading oak. It's a stormy day, the shepherd has to hold on to his hat, a storm is approaching from the west. The almost bare hill with the tower makes up the middle distance of the picture; Trees grow in the courtyard. Behind the hill the view goes into the country, one sees a bend in the Elbe . The castle no longer plays a role in people's everyday life: the shepherd does not look at her, only pays attention to his animals. The progress of life is also symbolized by the bird chicks, which can be recognized in their nest in the oak.
How much the picture thematizes the topos of transience becomes clear when compared with a watercolor that Ernst Ferdinand Oehme painted in 1841. The weather there is calm and the mood is cheerful; nothing to be seen of the imposing tree. It is a pure landscape representation.
See also
literature
- Tomáš Durdík : Castles of Northern Bohemia. Propagační tvorba, Praha 1992, ISBN 80-85386-50-X .
Web links
- Zřícenina hradu Kamýk. www.obeckamyk.cz, accessed on August 22, 2018 (Czech, information including historical drawing).
Coordinates: 50 ° 33 ′ 27 ″ N , 14 ° 4 ′ 51 ″ E