Pravda Castle
| Pravda Castle | ||
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.jpg) Entrance walkway |
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| Alternative name (s): | Pravda | |
| Creation time : | First mentioned in 1380 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Konětopy | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 14 '27.8 " N , 13 ° 42' 41.8" E | |
| Height: | 481 m nm | |
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The Gothic Pravda Castle (German Prawda ) is the ruin of a hilltop castle between the villages of Pnětluky and Domoušice on the cadastre of Konětopy in the Džbán Mountains in the Czech Republic . It is protected as a cultural monument.
geography
The remains of the castle are located in the southwest of the Pravda Pläner plateau (484 m) on a wooded lime spur between the valleys of the Pnětlucký creek and Hasina.
Surrounding villages are Konětopy and Solopysky in the northeast, Domoušice in the southeast, Chánov and Nečemice in the west and Pnětluky and Brůdek in the northwest. The railway line Rakovník – Louny runs south .
history
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The first written mention of the castle is given in various literature sources as 1380, when Bušek from Žirotín is said to have led a feud with the deed of Pěnic; however, there is no documentary evidence for this. Some researchers, including Franz Alexander Heber , Bořivoj Lůžek and Tomáš Durdík , believe that Pravda Castle was built in the 14th century. On the other hand, August Sedláček , Dobroslava Menclová and Bohumír Roedl take the view that it was not created until the 15th century. There is also speculation about a previous building built by the Přemyslids ; Sulislav von Netluk , who built Starý Netluk Castle on the site of a prehistoric fortification west of the Pravda on the Rovina in the middle of the 13th century , is also considered to be the founder of the castle.
The oldest excavation finds date from the first half of the 14th century. It is believed that there was a castle or settlement on the spur in the pre- Hussite period, the name of which has not been passed down. The unusual castle name (in German truth or law ), about the origin of which there are no traditions, is probably of Hussite origin. Likewise, no nobleman has come down to us from the pre-Hussite period who used the predicate of Pravda. An archaeological investigation of the ruin has not yet been carried out.
It is believed that the castle was built by the owner of the Pnětluky fortress, Beneš von Kolowrat , in the 1430s and completed in the 1460s. Pravda Castle was only used as a refuge in times of war, but was apparently never a mansion. After Beneš had moved from Kolowrat to Mašťov , his son Jan took over the Pnětluky estate; he, too, never used the predicate of Pravda .
The first written mention of the castle took place in 1523 when Jan Kolowrat-Maštovský the rule of Pravda with the market Horní Ročov and the villages Lipno , Líšťany , Konětopy, Pnětluky, Markvarec, Milostín , Solopysky and a mill in Brloh for 6750 shock Bohemian pennies on Diepolt boogers from Lobkowicz sold on Bilin . In 1527 his widow Agnes, née Míčanová von Klinštejn, inherited the rule; she later transferred it to Georg Popel von Lobkowicz . The Popel von Lobkowicz gentlemen used Pravda primarily as a hunting lodge, and in 1533 the castle was the seat of the administrator Jan von Mlékovice. They made the Divice Fortress the seat of their lordship and left the Pravda Castle to decay in the second half of the 16th century. The Pnětluky and Lipenec estates were separated from Ročov and Pravda under the lords of Lobkowicz and united in an allodial rule . In 1593 Pravda Castle was called a desolate castle . The cellars of the abandoned castle were used by tramps and bands of robbers as a shelter.
In 1681 the Divice dominion was attached to the Cítoliby dominion . In 1802 the Schwarzenberg princes acquired the goods.
At the time of the national rebirth of the Czechs , the castle ruins became a destination for nationally-minded pilgrimages because of their symbolic name. On July 12, 1868, around 10,000 Czechs gathered on the Pravda for a patriotic festival.
Since the 20th century, the ruin has increasingly been a destination for day trippers. It was also visited by tramps who bivouacked in the courtyard. It is also used for festivals and other events.
Due to the deteriorating condition of the ruins, an association of Pravda Castle was formed, which tries to stabilize the walls.
Structural system
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The unique design of the castle was based on the advancement of artillery. It is considered a masterpiece of fortification art in the middle of the 15th century. The centerpiece of the defense system was a mighty earth wall in the northern part of the outer bailey , at the corners of which there were two quarter-round artillery positions for active defense.
The facility, which was surrounded by a kennel, was accessible through a gate in the northern curtain wall to be defended by cannons . This gate system was the only tower-like structure on the castle; a dungeon did not exist. The triangular core of the castle, which can be reached from the east through a double gate, was surrounded by a deep inner moat and an adjoining inner wall of earth, the outer border formed the castle wall. To the north-east of the castle there was a fortified courtyard , which probably went out together with the castle.
The ruins of the low, three-room palace are preserved on the western curtain wall, the remains of a cellar building with portal and windows on the south-eastern curtain wall, the outer castle wall with remains of the artillery positions, remains of the fortified walls of the castle courtyard, fragments of the gate tower and underground Passages east of the castle.
