Jenštejn Castle: A Gothic Water Castle in Czechia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page12 sections
History
Jenštejn Castle is a Gothic water castle in Czechia, founded for Jenec of Janovice probably during the 1330s. Its construction is also dated to 1336–1361. Built on a low sandstone outcrop in a shallow valley, it was protected by water and became the source of the name Jenštejn, derived from Jencestein, meaning “Jenc’s stone.” The family that later took the name Jenštejn derived it from the castle.
Foundation and the Vlašim family
The first written evidence of the castle dates from 1341, when Jenec of Janovice owned it. Around 1368, Pavel of Vlašim, a notary of the royal chamber, acquired Jenštejn and soon began using the byname “of Jenštejn.” His family adopted the castle’s heraldic emblem, which showed two vulture heads. Pavel was the brother of Jan Očko of Vlašim, Archbishop of Prague.
After Pavel’s death in 1375, his sons Martin and Jan may have inherited or jointly possessed the castle, although the precise arrangement is unknown. Following Martin’s death, Jan of Jenštejn held it. He became the third Archbishop of Prague in 1380, and his position as a leading churchman and scholar prompted an extensive rebuilding of Jenštejn as a representative residence.
Conflict with Wenceslaus IV
Jan of Jenštejn soon entered into conflict with King Wenceslaus IV, the ruler of Bohemia. In 1390, the king attacked the castle and confiscated it, transferring it that year to his under-chamberlain Sigismund Huller of Orlík. By 1398, when Pešík Bryl served as castle burgrave, Huller may no longer have owned Jenštejn.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the castle passed through many owners and administrators. Among them were Oldřich of Černčice, possibly Ctibor of Jenštejn, Hron, Jindřich of Aachen, Aleš Škopek of Dubá, Jan of Liblice, Baltazar of Košín, Václav Holec of Květnice, Bohuslav and Jan Ojíř of Očedělice, Jan Zachař of Plotiště, Ladislav of Šternberk, Jan Litoborský of Chlum, Jan Hrušovský of Hrušov, Mikuláš Rendl of Úšava, Václav and Mikuláš Hrzán of Harasov, and Jan Dobřichovský of Dobřichov. Prokop the Great, a leading Hussite military commander during the early fifteenth-century Hussite wars, reportedly spent part of his youth at Jenštejn between 1408 and 1414.
Abandonment and later use
Jan Dobřichovský acquired Jenštejn in 1560. He sold it to Ladislav the Elder of Lobkowicz in 1568, but unpaid fines led the Brandýs authorities to seize the estate after Dobřichovský’s death. Jenštejn became part of the Brandýs estate in 1587. It was no longer inhabited, and an entry from 1608 described it as an old and dilapidated castle.
In 1640, during the Thirty Years’ War, the Swedish army burned the castle. An account from 1651 described a roofed but damaged and largely abandoned fortress, with a water-filled moat and a wooden bridge. The site remained abandoned until the end of the eighteenth century, when several poor rural families moved into the ruins. Each family occupied one floor, and this settlement continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. Their alterations severely damaged the interiors of the tower, while local residents reused stone and other materials from the decaying castle in their houses.
Protection and conservation
Jenštejn was opened to the public after repairs in 1977. The municipality of Jenštejn owns and administers the castle, which houses an exhibition of the Regional Museum of Prague-East about life at the site, including period depictions and a model of the castle. Since the mid-twentieth century, Jenštejn has been protected as a Czech cultural monument.
A major conservation and investigative campaign took place between 2015 and 2019. Timber scaffolding erected from December 2015 to March 2016 protected nearby houses from falling masonry and allowed work on deteriorated stonework, unsuitable resin-based repairs, and the tower roof. The campaign also included research by the National Heritage Institute, geodetic surveying, geological assessment of the stone, and detailed photographic documentation. The timber structure provided temporary roofing over the tower while conservation proceeded.
Remains
Jenštejn was arranged as a water castle on a low sandstone outcrop. Its outer defenses followed an unusual oval plan, while the inner castle core formed a triangle. Three palace wings surrounded a small courtyard. A deep moat cut into the rock could be filled from several ponds on the Vinoř Creek. The moat has since been filled and built over by later structures, and the position and form of the former outer bailey remain unknown.
Palace and courtyard
Surviving palace walls
The northern palace wing has almost entirely disappeared because much of the sandstone beneath it was quarried away. Part of the courtyard wall of the eastern front wing survives, including an arched entrance to the basement. A small fragment of portal lining indicates the height of the original entrance. The courtyard wall and sections of the side walls belonging to the third palace wing also remain, preserving parts of the former three-wing arrangement.
Round tower and chapel
Defensive tower
The dominant surviving structure is a round tower approximately 28 metres high. It is the castle’s bergfried, the principal defensive tower of a medieval Central European castle, and rises above the surrounding flat landscape as a lookout. Three sandstone coats of arms belonging to former owners stand beside the entrance.
Jan of Jenštejn raised the tower, leaving a narrower upper section above its wider lower part. The change in width originally supported a guard walkway, which was later converted into a covered gallery. The first entrance was on the first floor and could be reached by a drawbridge; a later doorway was made at ground level. The original roof was a stone helmet with four dormers, traces of which survive in old engravings, including nineteenth-century views. Its poor condition contributed to the deterioration of the upper masonry.
Private chapel
A private chapel occupies the tower’s second floor. It has a circular plan and a ribbed vault, a ceiling whose framework is formed by projecting ribs, with a small smooth central boss. Its small pentagonal presbytery, the part of a chapel reserved for the altar and clergy, has a radiating ribbed vault with a matching smooth boss. A narrow pointed-arch window lights the presbytery.
A stone altar table beneath the triumphal arch bears Jan of Jenštejn’s personal coat of arms. On the presbytery side, the arch has simple geometric bases. Following modern reconstruction, the chapel received a bust of Jan of Jenštejn, copied from the bust in the triforium of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
Tower interiors and masonry
The lower part of the tower contains cellars that probably served as pantries and storage chambers. Two additional floors lie above the chapel. The first is reached by a narrow spiral staircase and contains a small exhibition. A ladder leads to the upper, unsheltered floor, which serves as a viewpoint. A wooden spiral staircase runs through the tower.
The oldest surviving masonry consists of the lower part of the round tower and an adjoining section of the castle wall. These sections use smaller stones, while the tower’s lower levels also contain regular ashlar masonry. The tower includes intentionally applied Staufian bossage, a decorative treatment using projecting, roughly finished stone faces, together with profiled portals. These elements are associated with building practices connected with royal castle workshops.
