Oparno Castle: A Gothic Castle Ruin in Czechia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- 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 page6 sections
History
Oparno Castle is a Gothic castle ruin in Czechia, founded before 1344 by Smil of Vchynice on a rocky spur above the Milešov Stream. Smil was living at Oparno by 1354 and is regarded as an ancestor of the historically prominent Kinsky family. The castle and its estate remained with his descendants, the Vchynice family, until the beginning of the sixteenth century.
The Vchynice inheritance
In 1378, Smil’s six sons divided their father’s inheritance into smaller estates. Oparno and the village of Vchynice went to Smil, who arranged an inheritance agreement with his brother Martínek, lord of the Měrunice estate. After Smil died about a decade later, Martínek’s son, Smil the Younger of Vchynice, inherited Měrunice and received Oparno in 1417.
Smil the Younger took part in numerous private transactions between 1430 and 1455. He probably died without descendants, and his property then passed to Jan Dlask of Vchynice and later to Bohuslav Dlask of Vchynice. Bohuslav is first mentioned in 1486 and last appears in the records in 1515.
Division and abandonment
By 1515, Oparno Castle was probably divided between two owners, Bohuslav Dlask of Vchynice and Bohuslav of Žeberk and Oparno. Jaroslav, Adam, Zikmund, and Vilém, who may have been Bohuslav Dlask’s sons, sold one half of the Oparno estate to Albrecht Kyšperský of Vřesovice. This portion was administered from Vchynice and later became attached to Lovosice.
The other half, previously held by Bohuslav of Žeberk, passed to the Bořita family of Martinic by an unspecified process. When the Martinic property was divided between Volf and Jan of Martinic in 1536, Oparno Castle was described as abandoned. The first half of the estate had likewise been described as deserted when it was sold. The ruins have been protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic since 1964.
Remains
Spur, ditches, and forecourts
Oparno Castle occupies a rocky spur north of Oparno village, above the Milešov Stream on the left bank of the Elbe in the Bohemian Central Uplands. A southwestern forecourt occupied part of the spur and was separated from the castle core and the remaining ground by ditches cut into the rock. The remains also include a northern forecourt with traces of a building, as well as the northern ditch and the eastern wall.
The castle belonged to an uncommon medieval design in which the defensive role was carried by a massive mantle wall, an enclosing defensive wall that protects the castle without depending on a separate central tower. The wall surrounded most of the castle core and was crowned with battlements, sections of which remain. This arrangement distinguishes the site’s defensive organization from castles centered on a principal military tower.
Castle core and interior buildings
The approximately rectangular castle core has rounded corners and measures about 40 by 20 metres. The mantle wall encloses most of this area, while the surviving fabric also includes the outer walls and remains of buildings within the core.
At least two buildings stood inside the core. The palace survives through a vaulted lower level and a vaulted cellar beneath it. Together with traces of an interior building, these remains show how the residential structures were arranged within the fortified enclosure.
