Castle Bor

Castle Bor stands in the small town of Bor, in the Tachov district of the Plzeň Region in western Czechia, set in the valley of the Lužní stream roughly 14 km from Tachov. It is one of the region's best-preserved conversions of a medieval water castle into a romantic Neo-Gothic residence, and its white cylindrical tower is visible for miles over the surrounding forest.

How do you get there?

Bor sits on the road connecting Tachov and Stříbro, an easy drive from Plzeň (about 60 km) or from the Czech-German border crossings further west. The nearest railway hub is Tachov, from where local buses run to Bor. The castle itself sits on the edge of town, just a short walk from the main square.

What will you see?

The core of the present building dates back to the mid-13th century — the first written record of a stronghold in Bor comes from 1263 and names Ratmír, burgrave of Přimda, and his son Bohuslav as founders. From that original water castle, a cylindrical tower with walls up to three meters thick still survives. For four centuries the estate belonged to the lords of Švamberk, who founded the Chapel of St. Lawrence on the castle grounds in 1361 and, eight years later, raised the settlement below the walls to town status. The Hussite Wars left the fortress badly damaged, prompting Jan of Švamberk to rebuild it as a comfortable late-Gothic manor spread across several wings.

After the Švamberk line, the estate passed to Zikmund Bedřich von Götzen, and in 1720 it was bought by the Löwenstein family, who held Bor until 1945. The castle's current Neo-Gothic, historicist look dates from the mid-19th century, when Karel Tomáš Ludvík Löwenstein commissioned a remodel of the older Gothic-Renaissance residence.

The guided tour leads through the ground floor of the former castle, the Švamberk Hall with its ribbed vaulting, the Chapel of St. Lawrence from 1362 — decorated with net vaulting and Renaissance wall paintings — and on to the first floor of the castle wing. It finishes with a spiral staircase up the tower, where a gallery of portraits spans four generations of the Löwenstein-Wertheim family. From the top of the tower, reached via 117 steps to a height of 30 meters, visitors get a sweeping view over the town of Bor and the forests of the Český les. The Švamberk coat of arms — a silver swan on a red field — still forms part of the town's own emblem today. The castle has been protected as a cultural monument since 1958.

When should you visit?

The guided tour runs 40–50 minutes, so it's worth timing a visit for the tourist season, when the castle keeps full opening hours — roughly spring through autumn. Both the tower climb and the interiors are far more rewarding on a clear day, when the view from the lookout gallery stretches the farthest.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a visit to Castle Bor take? The standard guided tour lasts 40–50 minutes and covers the Švamberk Hall, the chapel, and the tower.

What makes Castle Bor different from a typical Czech castle? It began as a medieval moated water castle but was remodeled in the 19th century in a romantic Neo-Gothic style, so it now blends Gothic, Renaissance, and historicist elements in a single building.

Who owned the castle over the centuries? The Švamberk family held it for roughly four hundred years, followed by Zikmund Bedřich von Götzen, and then the Löwenstein family from 1720 until 1945.

What is the most notable architectural feature? The original cylindrical tower, with walls up to three meters thick — the clearest surviving piece of the 13th-century water castle that once stood here.