Historie

Dear visitors,

The ruin of the castle Frýdštejn is one of 3 castles of the district of Jablonec n.N. We don´t know exactly when it was grounded. Nor when the domesne of Frýdštejn was created. We know, however, that it was the property of the family of Markvartic. The owners of the castle were the lords of Dražice (1363), 13 years later )1376) lords of Bibrštejn and that is for the castle Frýdštejn is assumed to have relations with the family of Bibrštejn.

The castle is first mentioned in 1385 when Bohuněk called Puklice of Frýdštejn is mentioned in church sources. At the turn of the 14th and 15th century the castle was held by the family of Kamenec of Střížovice and Čakovice but it was owned as early as 1409 by Bohuš of Kováně. He was a Catholic and therefore the castle was besieged in August 1432 by Hussites under leadership of Jan Čapek of Sány. Bohuš of Kováně made however an agreement that he wouldn´t také any hostile actions against the Hussites and later he even converted to Utraquists. In 1448 he helped George of Poděbrady to conquer Prague. Then it was Jan Zajíc of Házmburk who became a bailiff of his property in 1460 after his death. Then several lords changed in taking over this property. In 1540 lords of Vartemberk bought the castle and the estate. It ws however for a short time only, as Adam of Vartemberk took part in the resistance movement of the Czech Estates against the king Ferdinand Ist in the period of 1546-47 when he lost his estates, including Frýdštejn. A new pwner of Frýdštejn was Jan of Oprštorf, who bought it together with Český Dub from the king in 1556. He sold it however by parts which ended the former function of the castle as an estate, as well as a guard castle. When the Oprštorf were selling the castle in 1591 to Zikmund Smiřický of Smiřice, it was already inhabitable. Frýdštejn was a typical rock castle and it dominated both in direction to Nokovice and above all to the Jizera valley, along an old path from Turnov to the north through the village Frýdštejn, former Zásada, where there was a yard providing for basic living for castle inhabitants.

The entrance into the castle is not exactly known. It is believed to be on the right of the tower through ground floor of the palace itself - a castle lord´s residence. As there was little space in the castle the whole barrier consisted of a number of small rooms carved out in the rock. A special attention should be paid to a small room carved out south from the main tower where a niche in the wall indicates a former chapel and this room as referred to 1691 was used even long after being left.

Major dominant of the castle is a large castle tower built up on the highest rock in order to watch around surroundings. The tower is the best conserved part of the castel. It is 15 m high, 9m in diameter, 2 m thick. There was an only entrance on 1st floor, about 6-7m above yard level.
The castle Frýdštejn was opened to the public in the 90-ies last century after Turnov adornment club had bought the castle in 1892 from the princes of Rohan from sychrov and had the conserved masonry reinforced. Foundings from the times of settlement of the castle were gained through exploration and they are available to see in Turnov museum´s collections.

Nowadays the castle is in ownership of the community of Frýdštejn and conservation works are being made progressively at considerable costs in order to keep the castle in at least current form for generations to come.
The castle is mentioned in the book written by Karolína Světlá „O krejčíkovic Anežce“, films were several times made here, out of which e.g. a fairy tale „O princezně Jasněnce a létajícím ševci“.