The Old Castle of Bezdez

Going on a kosher cruise in the Danube is an exhilarating experience, but it learning a lot of the colorful history of the Jewish people in Central Europe can leave you tired at the end. If you aren’t planning on going home just yet after the cruise is done, how about touring around the Bohemian countryside? There are many places to go to, like the castle of Bezděz.

The ancient royal Přemyslid castle of Bezděz, or Bösig in German, is one of the most important Gothic castles in the Czech Republic. It is also one of Bohemia’s most interesting and most popular medieval monuments. It is located in Česká Lípa district, above Bezděz village. It is near the city of Doksy in the Liberec region, approximately an hour‘s drive from Prague toward the northern border with Saxony and Poland. Bezděz is found in the heritage protected natural park of Kokořínsko, looming over the grandiose Mácha Lake (Großteich in German).

Bezděz Castle is the best preserved castle of Přemysl Otakar II, the “King of Iron and Gold“. He was Bohemia’s most powerful early medieval ruler and one of 13th Century Europe’s mightiest kings. During his reign, the Bohemian Kingdom stretched from the shores of the Baltic Sea, through Cracow, Prague, Nuremberg, Veinna, Salzburg, across the Alps, and all the way to Venice, Northern Italy,  and the Mediterranean. It was by far the most influential medieval kingdom on the European continent.

The Bezděz Castle was built overlooking an important trade route connecting three medieval crownlands belonging to Přemysl Otakar II: Bohemia, Lusatia and Saxony--now parts of the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, respectively. Back in the 13th Century, these areas were filled with impenetrable forests and there were only a few scarcely populated towns. The rest was surrounded by dangerous wilderness full of raiders and bandits. It is for this reason that the king decided to establish the castle to protect the trade caravans passing through the area. 

The castle sits on the hill of Velký Bezděz, one of the highest peaks of the entire region(604 m above sea level), and together with the neighboring ridge Malý Bezděz (577 m above sea level), it is a dominating part of the landscape.

The castle was the place where Wenceslas II, the later King of Bohemia, Poland and Hungary, was imprisoned together with his mother Kunhúta. Both were brought here in January 1279 at the time of Brandenburg’s invasion of Bohemia. Later, Kunhuta managed to escape but left her son behind, who was taken to Zittau, where he spent another 4 years in a dark dungeon. He was released only as a result of the peace treaty between Brandenburg and Bohemia. 

Because he hated the place where he spent years as a prisoner, he later sold Bezděz to the local landlords of Dubá. It was also because he needed money to sponsor his other campaigns. 

The castle has subsequently owned by many different noble families, such as the Lobkowicz and Waldstein dynasties. It was held for the last time by the Emaus Monastery of Prague, before the order left it during the 18th Century. Since then, it became empty and desolate. 

In the 19th Century, a lot of the original stones was used by nearby villages as construction materiál to build houses. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that it was proclaimed a National Heritage Monument by Czechoslovakia and a huge restoration process begun. It is ongoing until this day, thus preserving the most valuable core of the castle in a ruin-like state.

The magic and romantic silhouette of Bezděz fascinated a many artists in the past. Karel Hynek Mácha and his opus magnum, the poetic collection Máj, gave name to the entire region around the castle . It is also one of the defining pieces of Czech romantic literature of the 19th Century. Bedřich Smetana composed an opera called Mystery, which was about a supposed treasure being hidden in the castle. The castle was painted by Josef Mánes, Alois Bubák, Cina Jelínek, Hugo Ullich and many others.

One of the best views at the castle is from the shore of the Mácha’s Lake with which it forms one of the most popular vacation resorts in the country.