Okoř is a castle on a low rocky promontory in

Okoř Okoř is a municipality and village in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 100 inhabitants. Etymology The name is derived from the personal name Okora. Geography Okoř is located about northwes ...

, north-west of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, about from the city centre, in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

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 ...

. In 1228 a stronghold was built in the small hamlet of Okoř. It was later modified into a Gothic castle, founded in 1359 by Frantisek Rokyčansky, a wealthy burgher of Prague's Old Town. It was later modified by comprehensive Late Gothic remodelling by the Lords of Donin.Klára Benešovská (2001)
''Architecture of the Gothic''
Prague Castle Administration, p. 211. In 1518, during the reign of Bořitas of Martinice, the castle was turned into a residence in the

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 ...

style. During 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 ...

the castle was heavily damaged and then restored in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. It underwent further extension in the second half of the 15th century, and in the 17th century it was owned by

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. Following their departure after the Jesuit order was discontinued in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, the Okoř castle became deserted in the late 18th century and slowly began to deteriorate.

References

External links

Buildings and structures completed in 1228 Prague-West District Castles in the Central Bohemian Region Ruined castles in the Czech Republic {{CzechRepublic-castle-stub