Sirotčí hrádek (also Sirotčí hrad, Sirotčí hrady or Růžový hrad; or ''Rosenstein'') is a ruin of a Gothic castle in the municipality

Klentnice Klentnice () is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants. Geography Klentnice is located about northwest of Břeclav and south of Brno. It lies in the Mikulo ...

in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region (; , ; ), or just South Moravia, is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia. The region's capital is Brno, th ...

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 ...

. The origins of the castle date back to the 13th century, when it was built by the Wehingen family; the castle then belonged to the Liechtensteins and the Dietrichsteins, before being abandoned in the 16th century. It has been protected as a

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...

since 1958.

History

The castle was built in the middle of the 13th century by the Swabian Wehingen family, or rather their offshoot, which was founded by the knight Siegfried Sirotek. After the extinction of the Wehingen family, the castle came into the possession of King Wenceslas III in 1305, who was murdered a year later. Then the Liechtensteins acquired it. In 1575, the Dietrichsteins became the owners of the then desolate castle. Although the land registry from 1560 does not mention Sirotčí hrádek in 1590 it explicitly describes it as desolate.

Location

The ruins are located about northwest of

Břeclav Břeclav (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. Located at the Czech-Austrian state border and near the Czech–Slovak state border, it is an important railway hub. Administrative divis ...

, above the village of

. It lies on the northern edge of Stolová hora, a hill of the Pavlov Hills within the

Mikulov Highlands The Mikulov Highlands () is a mountain range in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. The Highlands, together with the Waschberg Zone and Lower Austria Inselberg threshold, form the South-Moravian Carpathians. Geography The Mikulo ...

, at an altitude of . It is situated in the Tabulová National Nature Reserve within the

Pálava Protected Landscape Area The Pálava Protected Landscape Area (abbreviated Pálava PLA; , abbreviated ''CHKO Pálava'') is a Landscape park (protected area), protected landscape area and a UNESCO biosphere reserve located in the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic ...

Description

The castle was built on two

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cliffs, which were divided by a deep

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

, while the main part of the castle was located on the southern rock. The bridge probably led across the gorge. A three-storey palace was built on a smaller plateau of the southern rock. To the north, which is now inaccessible, was a prismatic

watchtower A watchtower or guardtower (also spelt watch tower, guard tower) is a type of military/paramilitary or policiary tower used for guarding an area. Sometimes fortified, and armed with heavy weaponry, especially historically, the structures are ...

. The whole fort was enclosed by a

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 ...

and a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

. From the castle, the castle wall has been preserved on a southern rock high, in the middle of which there is a window opening. On the opposite side of the wall is the remains of a three-story palace several meters high. There are three window openings in it, two of which end in a broken arch. In the immediate vicinity of the wall is a

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

, which was used to supply the castle with water. Only relatively small remains of the castle masonry have been preserved on the northern rock.

Reputation

Sirotčí hrádek is associated with the legend of the knight Čičos, who belonged to the Order of the Templars. He worked as a

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

in the castle. When his son was to be born, Čičos received a summons to his order. However, due to the birth of his son, Čičos refused. Shortly afterwards, a commander arrived at the castle, whom Čičos's wife Růžena asked to go to the newborn child as a godfather. According to the traditional custom, the name of the child is chosen by the godfather. The commander accepted the offer and gave the child the name Orphanus ("orphan"). After the birth of a child, he commanded the commander to execute Čičos for betraying the order, making Orphanus a true orphan. Then he had all the inhabitants of the castle executed (except for one), while the widow of Čičos's heart broke with grief. The commander left the castle and took Orphanus with him. When he returned to the castle years later, he found the only person there – an old man who had once escaped the Commander's wrath. When the old man told him what had happened to his parents at the time, Orphanus went insane and had to ride horses at night from Turold Castle.

Depictions in film

*' ("The Brave Blacksmith") (1983, director: Petr Švéda) *''Třetí skoba pro Kocoura'' (1983, director: )

References