A bite of history 

The city now known as “Kosteletz of the Black Forest” is located within a thick forest that until 1325 was the property of the Royal Crown. In 1325 the forest was purchased by a nobleman from “Nachod“, at the time there was already a castle and a village with a church, later the village was enlarged and in 1489 became a city and was granted rights to operate markets and workshops.

The castle was probably built in the 13th century by the Slavic rulers of the area, and at the end of the 15th century it was owned by the Salvatowa family, who significantly changed its structure. In 1547, the castle was confiscated by Ferdinand I and rebuilt in 1549 and turned into a hunting lodge.

The unfinished building was bought by Jaroslav Smiricki, who finished the renovation. In 1614 the castle was transferred to Jan Albrecht Smirchicki, one of the initiators of the “defenestration” in Prague and in 1618 was confiscated by the king. Between 1626-1933 the property of the Lichtenstein family was transferred to the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Prague

Description of the castle building
The core of the complex is a large, two-storey square building enclosing the inner courtyard. At the four corners of the building are polygonal towers, and the whole area is surrounded by a moat and a battery

Several Gothic architectural details, such as the entrance gate, were still preserved below the northwestern part of the castle, A covered passageway connects the fort with the Gothic-Renaissance chapel of St. Wittach which was built on the embankment in 1569, in the chapel there are valuable original exhibits.

The entrance gate to the castle, with the tower, is from the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, and the eastern section with the fortifications above the gate is from the Gothic period and the gate decorated with a sarcophati leads a stone bridge above the moat and is accompanied by baroque vases