Cimburk

Cimburk is a ruined medieval castle set in the Chřiby hills, roughly four kilometers east of the town of Koryčany, close to the village of Lázy on the Czech side of the border. For hikers exploring the forested Chřiby ridge, it's a stop that mixes regional history with a bit of exercise — the ruins sit on a hilltop, so reaching them means a walk up through the woods, which is often as much the point of the visit as the walls themselves.

When was Cimburk built?

The castle went up between 1320 and the 1330s, during a period when Moravia saw a wave of new fortifications built to secure trade routes and local estates. The Chřiby range, sitting between the Lower Moravian lowlands and the rest of the region, was a natural spot for that kind of defensive structure at the time.

What is known about its history?

The first documented event after construction dates to 1468, when Štěpán of Vartnov repaired damage to the castle. That single record tells us more than it first appears: repairs imply prior harm, most likely tied to the armed conflicts that were common across Bohemia and Moravia in the 15th century, from the Hussite wars through later disputes over the Bohemian crown. The next trace in the record comes much later, in 1793, when Josef Schwoy described the castle. Schwoy was known for his topographical surveys of Bohemian and Moravian lands, and his mention of Cimburk confirms the ruins were already a recognized, noteworthy feature of the local landscape by the late 18th century.

Have the ruins been preserved?

Yes — conservation work at Cimburk began in the early 1900s. That timing fits a broader pattern seen at many Bohemian and Moravian castles: after centuries of slow decay, and sometimes outright quarrying of stone from abandoned walls, local authorities and associations started treating ruins like Cimburk as heritage worth protecting rather than a convenient source of building material. That early-20th-century effort is a large part of why the site can still be visited today.

Why is it worth visiting?

For anyone exploring the Chřiby hills, Cimburk combines two things: a tangible link to several centuries of regional history, and a good reason to walk one of the more forested and less crowded ridgelines in Moravia. The ruins aren't a reconstructed showpiece with full period furnishings — they're genuine remnants of the walls, and they carry more weight once you know the basic outline of how the castle came to be and what happened to it over the centuries.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is Cimburk located? In the Chřiby hills, about four kilometers east of the town of Koryčany, near the village of Lázy.

When was the castle built? Between 1320 and the 1330s.

Was the castle ever damaged? The sources don't specify a cause, but they record that Štěpán of Vartnov repaired damage to the castle in 1468, which points to earlier destruction.

Can visitors still see the ruins today? Yes. The castle survives as a ruin, and conservation work carried out since the early 1900s has helped keep it in a condition that can be visited.

Who wrote about Cimburk in the past? In 1793, Josef Schwoy, known for his topographical descriptions of Bohemian and Moravian lands, described the castle.