Karlštejn Castle travel guide

other Sights:

• Charle's Bridge,
• Prague Castle,
• Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí)

other points of interest:

• Charle's Bridge,
• Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art (Sbírka moderního umění),
• Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí)

Karlštejn Castle

North of the little wine-growing community of Karlštejn (population 1200) towers the mighty Hrad Karlštejn (formerly Karlův Týn), the most famous of Bohemia’s medieval castles.

From the car park outside the village it is an approximately 2km/1.5mi walk up to the terraced fortifications, which soar up from a wooded hill surrounded by limestone cliffs (319m/1050ft) above the slopes of a tributary valley of the river Berounka (Beraun). The castle is classified as a national monument of culture and is preserved with great care. It was built during the relatively short period between 1348 and 1357, in the reign of Emperor Charles IV, to house in safety the treasures of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the Bohemian royal insignia, numerous relics and important state documents. The designs were in all likelihood provided by the French architect Matthias of Arras. Severely damaged by Hussite attacks in 1422, it was repaired a few years later; it was restored with some alterations in the second half of the 16th century, and restored once again – also with various alterations – by Friedrich Schmidt and Josef Mocker (1887–1899).