The ruins of Boskovice Castle - 13km
The romantic ruins of the Gothic-Renaissance Boskovice castle stand out on the border of "Malá Haná" and Drahanská vrchovina above the town of Boskovice. Archeology tells us a little about the origin of the castle. Findings of ceramics from the castle area can be dated to the second half of the 13th century, and that is when Boskovice Castle was probably built. The first mention of today's castle dates back to 1312, when it was captured and demolished by the troops of John of Luxembourg during a campaign against rebellious Moravian feudal lords. The demolished castle soon rose from the ruins, but in 1389 it was conquered again, this time by the troops of Margrave "Jošta". It was damaged again by strife between the margraves at the end of the 14th century. The rebuilt and expanded castle was taken over by the Hussites in 1424, but it soon returned to the hands of its founders, the lords of Boskovice. Its Renaissance modifications took place in the 16th century - in 1568, the magnificent portal of the 1st gate was created, which tells us the name of the builder "Jaroš Morkovský" from "Zástřizl". Boskovice Castle remained inhabited until 1733, in the latter period only by officials. It was definitively abandoned in 1784.
A total of 6 noble families and a number of individual owners took turns in possession of Boskovice Castle, during which time there were numerous reconstructions and destructions. That is why you can notice so many secondarily walled up older masonry elements (fragments of door portals, window linings, vault ribs, etc.). A whole series of reconstructions gave rise to the unmistakable form of Boskovice Castle.
The remains of the castle were left to their fate until the beginning of the 20th century and were dismantled for building material, the necessary security work was carried out here only in 1929 and 1942 and continued after nationalization in 1945.
Currently, the castle is owned by the Mensdorff-Pouilly family, who have left it open to the public.
A red tourist sign and educational trail of the Castle Circuit lead around the castle. In case of exceptionally bad weather, the castle grounds are closed.
To this day, the complete outer wall circuit including the bastions, the very well-preserved remains of the two-story palace and a number of impressive details, e.g. stone-worked coat of arms and inscriptions, have been preserved from the castle. A popular and unique exhibit of the castle is a cistern with a pedal wheel, dating from around 1671. The cistern is 26 m deep and the interesting thing is that the water is fed into it from a second cistern located in front of the castle. The ruin provides beautiful views of the surrounding landscape.
The core of the vast castle area is a typical example of a castle with a shell wall. It has a roughly oval shape (55x35 m). An elongated four-room palace adjoined the perimeter wall on the southern and eastern sides. The entrance to the core was apparently from the north. During the high-Gothic Kunststatt restoration before the end of the 14th century, the castle was supplemented with a park, the palace was completely rebuilt and its rooms vaulted with complex ribbed vaults in the spirit of the court Gothic of King Wenceslas IV. In 1458, the lords of Boskovice acquired the castle and they built the outer late Gothic wall ring with prismatic bastions, had the residential part modified, a new gate to the core established on the eastern side, and the outer wall supplemented with massive pillars with bay windows, topped by turrets. Some of these buildings already bear elements of the Renaissance. The final construction phase of the castle under the Eders and "Zástřizls" in the second half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century was completely Renaissance. From that time comes, among other things, the Renaissance hall, the adjoining buildings of the first gate and part of the fortifications. In 1706, extensive baroque stables were built in front of the entrance to the main gate.
https://www.mistopisy.cz/pruvodce/body-zajmu/887/zricenina-hradu-boskovice/