Castles & ruins 31: Loket Castle CZ
Královský hrad Loket, CZ
The place where river Ohře/Eger hugs huge granite rock was the subject of dispute between German Bavarii and Slavic Sedlichane tribes for ages. It is unknown who built the fort here first but already in 1234 it is known by both German “Stein-Elbogen” and Czech “Loket” names. In 1337 it was known as a castle with several towers and king John of Luxembourg granted the settlement around it the rights of free town. So the Loket castle was owned by the town which was rare case for the castles.
John' son Charles 4th was imprisoned here when he was just 3y.o., nevertheless Charles liked Loket and visited it later many times. Besides in one of these visits he ordered to build spa-town nearby known for its mineral water till today - Carlsbad / Karlovy Vary.
Loket castle withstand Husits attacks (15th century) but got destroyed in 30-years war and what was left was burned down by Swedish army (17th century). Since then the castle stayed in ruins until 1788 when Loket town repairs it a bit to use as a prison. This part of the castle survived the best: 4 underground floors of dungeons, torture chambers and all kinds of jail cells from solitary to big ones for groups of prisoners – the castle keeps it “alive” with proper decorations, sounds and all the instruments of medieval torture – looks very natural, not every tourist manage to get to the end of this “history revival”. The castle was used as a prison during WWII as well so after the war it was avoided due to its really dark history all the way to 1992 when restoration finally started. Today you can see the castle fully restored, it is back in the Loket town ownership and as a museum is open to public for a fee.
Another peculiarity of Loket is the meteorite – yes, yes, in 1400 the space rock falls right on the castle yard, more over – right on the head of the castle burgrave who was obviously killed on the spot. The legend says this particular burgrave was cruel knight who pressed townsfolk for taxes, duties and all possible charges so one day poor widow who had nothing to pay anymore cursed him in tears and that was the moment when meteorite hit him hard. People rejoiced on this heavenly gift and regarded it holy, they kept the rock inside the castle and even hid it during sieges in the castle well despite the fact that meteorite weighted more than 100kg. At the end of 19th century the rock was studied by several universities – they cut it in pieces and you can see the biggest one of 79kg in the Geology museum in Vienna, smaller one in National museum in Prague, in Loket a leftover of 14kg is as well on display.
There is another legend of the castle which too has materialistic rock solid proof: the story about Hans Heiling (Jan Svatoš in Czech). He was either son of the Eger river or river nymph or not the son but lover – however it was he got magic powers and countless riches from it/her. Hans fall in love with local girl but she married some ordinary townie – angry Heiling turn the whole wedding into stones in his rage and left the earth for underground kingdom of his, disappointed by people forever. There are several versions of the legend and even opera about him. As for the wedding – it is really there in Svatošské skály, between Loket castle and Karlovy Vary, all the rocks look like wedding gests, bride and groom and their parents, etc.
The castle web: https://www.hradloket.cz
From above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5BGp5LgU28
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