Karlštejn

Karlštejn

A castle to guard a treasure

In the wooded hills of Bohemia, in what is today the Czech Republic, a magnificent Gothic castle climbs a steep ridge in steps, rising tower upon tower until it reaches a tall Great Tower at the very top. This is Karlštejn, and it was built for a very special purpose: to be the strongest, safest treasure-house in the entire Holy Roman Empire. Behind its walls were kept the empire's crown jewels and a priceless collection of holy relics.

The great emperor Charles IV

Karlštejn was founded in 1348 by Charles IV, one of the most powerful rulers of the Middle Ages. Charles was King of Bohemia and also Holy Roman Emperor, which made him in name the chief ruler of a vast patchwork of lands across central Europe. He loved his Bohemian homeland and made its capital, Prague, into one of the great cities of Europe, founding its famous university and building its grand bridge.

Charles wanted a secure place to keep the symbols of his power and his faith, and so he ordered the building of Karlštejn, designed like a stairway of defences leading up to the holiest chamber at the summit.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross

The heart of Karlštejn is a room of breathtaking beauty: the Chapel of the Holy Cross, high in the Great Tower. Its walls glitter with thousands of polished semi-precious stones and pieces of gold, and they are covered with more than a hundred painted portraits of saints by the medieval artist Master Theodoric. The ceiling was studded with glass stars to look like the night sky.

In this dazzling chapel the emperor kept the imperial crown jewels and the relics, behind multiple locked doors and thick walls. It was meant to feel like a glimpse of heaven itself — and to be almost impossible to rob.

Strict rules and legends

Karlštejn was so sacred and so important that it followed very strict rules. By an old tradition, women were not allowed to stay overnight inside the upper castle, in keeping with its holy purpose — a rule that later inspired a famous Czech play full of comic disguises and secret visits.

The castle was defended not only by walls but by its clever layout: an enemy would have to fight up through gateway after gateway, level after level, to reach the treasure at the top.

Wars and restoration

Over the centuries the crown jewels and relics were eventually moved elsewhere for safety, and Karlštejn was caught up in wars, including a long siege during a religious conflict in the 1400s. Later the castle fell into decline, but in the 1800s and 1900s it was carefully restored to its Gothic glory, and it remains one of the most visited castles in the Czech Republic.

Visiting today

Visitors who climb up to Karlštejn can wander its courtyards and towers and, on special tours, see the magnificent Chapel of the Holy Cross with its jewelled walls and painted saints. From the battlements the view stretches over the green Bohemian forests. Built by a great emperor to guard a kingdom's most precious treasures, Karlštejn is one of the most beautiful and remarkable castles in all of Europe.