Karlštejn Castle / Karlštejn, Czech Republic

Mackenzie Fisher
Feb 26, 2017
3 min read

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

~ Henry David Thoreau

On Saturday, my dad and I headed out for another day trip to Karlštejn Castle, located in Karlštejn, Czech Republic! Karlštejn was a 45 minute train ride, and it took us through the mountains of the Czech Republic. It was amazing getting to see the country side, since so much of what I've been doing here has been in the city! On the ride over, we saw many families out playing ice hockey on the frozen rivers, and it was so cool getting to see Czech communities in their natural habitats!

We got to Karlštejn, and immediately saw the castle from the bottom of the hill! The village surrounding the castle was filled with artsy and traditional Czech shops, so it made the hike up much easier! There is an option to take a horse drawn carriage to the top of the hill, but we wanted to walk to see the famous village and shops!

Who needs a horse carriage ride, when you are walking past shops with Kolaces?

We did wonder if these people were planning on taking their miniature ponies to the top?

I will never understand how someone could be brave enough to lead armies up these hills to take over castles. The walk up would be so intimidating, I mean, look at this fortress!

Finally made it to the top! Refreshing to get some mountain views, after all of the Prague city ones!

For perspective, you can see the village where we started our walk from!

Dad and I!

Karlštejn Castle was founded in 1348 by the Czech King, and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV. Charles originally created the palace as a place for safekeeping of royal treasures, especially his collection of holy relics and the coronation jewels of the Roman Empire. The Czech royal jewels were also brought here during the outbreak of the Hussite wars, and were kept here for nearly 200 years. The jewels are stored in the Great Tower, which is 60 meters high! We went on a tour of the inside of the castle, and our tour guide told us lots of interesting history of the Czech Republic! Every new tour we go on, we learn something new and interesting, and I am starting to fit the pieces of history together!

We started the tour by going in Charles's personal bedroom in the castle. Charles only lived in this castle about two weeks of the year, since he was always traveling as Holy Roman Emperor. When he wasn't at the castle, he had many important officials run it for him. In this picture of the room, you can see dressers used by the knights of the castle, with their shields and crests painted on the sides they stored their armour.

Charles and his wife slept in different rooms when he was visiting, and his wife slept in a room above him. Every night, before he would head up, he would kneel at his personal chapel, and pray! If God told him no, he couldn't go up!

Where he dreamed of Euro Dogs probably.

Here, King Charles can be seen painted in the Nativity scene with Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus. It was quite normal for royals to be painted in biblical settings with Jesus, as they thought it would show people that they had divine power. This painting is very famous in the Czech Republic, and it was amazing getting to see the original!

Charles's personal office and study!

Billiard hall!

Some of the Czech jewels from Czech royalty.

The holes in the wood frames of these pictures is where royals used to hide their relics. Kings would hide bones of Saints, royals, and things of religious significance inside artwork for safe keeping. The crown is a replica of Charles IV, we saw the real thing on our Prague castle tour earlier in the week!

Wonder whose bones used to be hidden here?

Karlštejn Castle actually has the largest portrait gallery of Czech rulers in the country! King Charles's favorite figure was King Wenseslas, and he has many of his bloodline painted in the gallery!