The first conclusive report about the castle dates back to 1335, when King Jan of Luxembourg sold it - then still under the older name Klapý - to Zbyněk Zajíc of Valdek. Zbyněk Zajíc, who held high positions at the court, subsequently not only renamed the castle to Házmburk according to part of his coat of arms, but he probably also contributed to its significant expansion. Házmburk played an important role in the 15th century, when during the Hussite storms it became one of the important bastions of the Catholic party and during the Polipanská period the center of a growing estate. In the first third of the 15th century, the town of Podhradí with a church was added to the castle. From the end of the 15th century, the importance of neighboring Libochovice grew and Házmburk gradually declined. In the years 1550 and 1553, the castle town is mentioned as desolate and the castle itself followed it soon after - after 1558, when Kryštof of Házmburk sold it to Jan the Elder of Lobkovice. It is explicitly marked as desolate in 1586.
For the site of Házmburk Castle was chozen an exceptionally convenient place - a solitary hill north-northwest of Libochovice. At the top, a small rectangular core was enclosed by a high wall with rounded corners, to which buildings adjoined on the courtyard side. In the cramped courtyard there is a prismatic tower called Bílá, the lower part of which belongs to the oldest stage of construction. Younger, on the other hand, is the wall that surrounded the core from all sides. The wall also fortified the area to the west below the core and especially the long, slightly descending top of the castle hill to the east. Here was an area of unknown appearance and on the east side, in a loop of the wall, a cylindrical tower called Black. The tower guarded the gate, which was set in the fortification wall northwest of its base and to which an access road ascended by a compartment on the northern slope. At the southern foot of the hill are the remains of the fortified town of Podhradí.
Newspaper article
The ruins of a Gothic castle on a far visible basalt hill above the village of Klapý, 3.5 kilometers northwest of the town of Libochovice, dominate the landscape of the Central Bohemian Uplands. The castle was the seat of the Zajíc family from the 14th to the 16th century. The top of the castle lies at a height of 418 m above sea level. The lower castle is overshadowed by a massive oval Black Tower made of dark basalt, 25 m high. It reaches a width of 9 m in diameter and has 2 m thick walls. One meter higher The White Tower with the battlement, which dominates the Upper Castle, is made of light sandstone and is accessible for tourists. If you go to the castle, be sure to go to the tower, because from its top you will have not only a wonderful view of the town of Libochovice, but also the entire lower Elbe and Poohří in the distance with the legendary mountain Říp and the breathtaking panorama of the Central Bohemian Uplands. You can go to Hazmburk Castle from three sides - from Libochovice, from Slatina and from the village of Klapý.
Photo gallery
Galerie - Házmburk
