Košťálov (ruins)

The ruins are located just a few kilometers west of Lovosice. Not much is known about the origin of the original castle from the sources, even the more precise date of construction and the name of the builder cannot be clearly determined. However, the first mention of Košťálov, dating back to 1372, mentions burgrave Aleš Jr. from Slavětín, from which it could be deduced that the castle was founded sometime during the 14th century.

In the same period, the sources also mention a kind of Peter of Košťál, a nobleman who probably owned this area with the then castle, but he was probably not directly the initiator of the building itself. It is also said that it was a royal castle.

Possible builders of the castle could be the Slavětins, Házmburks or Kaplíř family from Sulevice, to whom Košťálov belonged at the beginning of the 15th century, and who lived here until the middle of the 16th century. They then moved to a more accessible fortress, located below the castle, and Košťálov, meanwhile, began to decay and fall into disrepair. During the 30-year war, it was abandoned for good.

If you take a trip to Košťálov at the moment, you will see the torso of the tower-like palace, which is already a visible dominant feature of one of the hills of the Bohemian Central Mountains. The residential tower, surrounded by a fence, was used in its time not only for living, but naturally also for defense.

Today, the castle can be reached, for example, from the village of Boreč, from where it is about 2.5 km along the yellow tourist sign. Another starting point can be the village of Třebenice, from which you can get to the castle following the green tourist sign, or the village of Sutom.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová