Švihov Castle (; ) is a Gothic

water castle A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbo ...

in Švihov in the

Plzeň Region Plzeň Region or Plzeňský Region (also known as Pilsen Region; ) is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the western part of the historical land of Bohemia and named after the capital, Plz ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

History

Švihov Castle was built by the Rýzmberk of Skála noble family. It was besieged by the

Hussites upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...

during

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

, the garrison surrendered after their water

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

s were siphoned. It was rebuilt between 1480 and 1489 by the order of the castle's owner, Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk, in the late Gothic style. His sons continued in rebuilding the castle after he died and invited a famous architect

Benedikt Rejt Benedikt Rejt (often spelled Benedikt Ried; c. 1450 – between 1531 and 1536) was a leading medieval architect in Bohemia, today's Czech Republic. He built Vladislav Hall (1497–1500) in Prague Castle, St. Barbara's Church, Kutná Hora, (c. 14 ...

. In 1598, the Kavka of Říčany family took the control of the castle, but were forced to sell it to the Czernin family 50 years later in 1598, due to their poor management. Then the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

came and the castle was unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedish army. Benedikt Rejt invented the castle's moat system with massive

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s (horseshoe shaped ground plans opened into the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

). He finished his works until 1520. He used the same system when he designed the

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

Rabí Castle Rabí or Rábí is a ruined castle in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It is the largest castle (in terms of area) in the country. Rabí Castle was proclaimed a Cultural monument (Czech Republic), national cultural monument in 1978. Etym ...

, one of the largest castles in Bohemia. After the war, Emperor Ferdinand III ordered the demolition of the castle, possibly out of fear for it being an "unconquerable fort of anti-Habsburg resistance". Luckily, thanks to constant postponing of the demolition, only a part of

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

was damaged. Castle palaces,

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

and other parts of the bastion were used as a

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

, devaluating the whole complex, yet protecting it from being rebuilt. The castle stayed in Czernin's hands until the nationalization in 1945.

Architecture

The castle consists of two residential palaces, five-level entrance tower and a chapel built on top of the bastion. Only small parts of the rampart remained undamaged with four bastions - The Red Bastion, The White Bastion, The Green Bastion and The Gold Bastion (whose remains were discovered in 1951). There were two water moats around the castle. The inner moat was placed where today's inner courtyard is and the outer moat was between the inner and outer rampart (of which a part is still standing). If needed, the moats could be filled with water from three nearby ponds. The castle's interior consists of typical late Gothic and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

furnishings: furniture, rich

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

, pewter and copper kitchenware, weapons and arms. Valuable wall paintings from the 16th century can be found in The Red Bastion, the chapel and in other rooms. Open to public are the castle's armory, the kitchen (with original furnishings that originate mainly from the 18th century), the feast hall, the chapel, the bed chambers and The Great Hall with wooden

cassette ceiling Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

that originates from Dobrovice Castle. Pudorys kaple svihov 2

The castle's chapel was built between 1480 and 1489 by Půta von Schwihau The exterior of the chapel remained mostly undamaged, the interior in the other hand was until its reconstruction in 1890. The stairs leading to the chapel were destroyed as well. The entrance hall has a net vault, it's ribs lean onto decorated consoles and converge into one paint keystone. The nave of the chapel is also vaulted, but all four ribs were rough-hewed for unknown reasons.

Gallery

Hrad Švihov od východu.jpg, East view Hrad Švihov 1.jpg, Entrance tower Vodní Hrad Švihov - Water Castle Svihov - panoramio (2).jpg, Kaple hradu Švihov.JPG, Interior of the chapel Svihov kaple.jpg, Exterior Zimní pozdní odpoledne u hradu Švihov.jpg, Švihov Castle Hrad Švihov od hradního mlýna.jpg, Švihov Castle BurgSvihov.jpg,

History

Architecture

Gallery

Further reading