Rabštejnek Castle

Ruins of small Rabštejnek Castle can be found near village Rabštejn (administrative part of village Rabštejnská Lhota) in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic.

The Gothic style castle was constructed on a small rock during first half of 14th century for a local nobleman. The name originates in German "Rabenstein", meaning "raven's nest" (because of resemblance of a nest). Current form of the name was used since cca 1450. Castle ownership had changed frequently between several noble families, the king and town Chrudim. Toward the end of 16th century the place was reported as abandoned. During second half of 19th century the ruins were reconstructed in romantic style to serve as a shelter for hunts by local nobility.

A rectangular dungeon ("donjon", a tower), narrowly sized building and smaller tower on opposite side were cramped on the rock. The structures were designed high because of lack of space. Rectangular rampart was surrounded by a moat. The inbuilt structure added in 19th century had pseudo-romanesque windows decorated by sgraffitos.

Before World War II remnants of the castle were maintained. After the war it was nationalized, the furniture moved out and the rest left to decay.

Today, the ruins are freely accessible.

References

* August Sedláček "Hrady, zámky a tvrze Království českého", Volume I, 1882
* Tomáš Durdík: "Ilustrovaná encyklopedie českých hradů", Libri, Prague 1999

External links

* [http://hrady.dejiny.cz/rabstejnek/index.htm Description of the castle, photos] (in Czech)
* [http://www.antee.cz/rabstejnskalhota/index.php?nid=968&lid=CZ&oid=77452 Photo gallery]
* Very detailed history of the castle: [http://webak.upce.cz/cz/zpravodaj/rijen97/9-17.htm part 1] and [http://webak.upce.cz/cz/zpravodaj/prosinec97/22-12.htm part 2] (in Czech)