Střekov Castle

It has enchanted a variety of visiting artists, most notably Goethe, Richard Wagner, and Karel Hynek Mácha.

The castle is perched atop a steep, monolithic, clinkstone rock that rises steeply to 100 metres above the Elbe and is the symbol of North Bohemia.

The castle was built in 1316 for King John of Bohemia, the father of the Emperor Charles IV, to guard an important trade route to Germany.

Well known painters such as Ludwig Richter, Caspar David Friedrich and Ernst Gustav Doerell stayed at the castle and captured it in romantic paintings.

Goethe declared the view from the castle's position above the Elbe to be the most beautiful in Central Europe, while Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser was supposedly inspired by his visit to Schreckenstein.

[1] Střekov Castle is divided into two sections connected by an arched bridge spanning a natural moat—an unusual style for the 14th century, when it was first built.