Hrad Štramberk
Hrad Štramberk

History of the castle

The ruins of the castle, the origin of which is unknown, which, as the legend says, was originally supposed to stand on the opposite Kotouč Hill, but the construction was thwarted by dwarves from the Devil's Hole cave.

The castle is associated with the royal land administration or the defense of the land borders. The most recent works consider the builders of the castle to be the noble family of Benešovice, or the Přemyslid princes of Olomouc after 1200. In the 13th century the castle was the property of the spiritual and knightly order of the Knights Templar (Literature: T. J. Pešina, Prodromus Moraviographiae, 1663). After the abolition of the Order in 1312, the castle was in the possession of the Bohemian King Jan Lucemburský and in 1333 - 1346 of the Moravian Margrave Charles, later the Bohemian King Charles IV. From 1350 (1359 as castrum Strallenberg) it was the property of the founder of the town, the Moravian Margrave Jan Jindřich, for 25 years, and from 1375 it was owned by his son, the Margrave Jošt Lucemburský. The most important owner of the castle after 1380 was the Moravian-Silesian branch of the Benešovice family - the Lords of Kravař (until 1433). After 1533, the castle gradually began to decay. The oldest depiction from 1722 shows a two-palace layout with outbuildings and two square bastions. In 1783 the front part of the castle collapsed and the masonry was dismantled for building materials. The northeastern fortification of the inner castle has been preserved in its original height. In 1901-1903 the cylindrical tower (the so-called bergfrit - height 40m, diameter 10m) was roofed and converted into a lookout tower according to the design of the prominent Prague architect Kamil Hilbert. The outer walls were rebuilt in places and two castle gates were built. A bronze memorial plaque to MUDr. Adolf Hrstka (1864-1931, mayor and doctor of Štramberk, tireless promoter of the town) by academ. sculptor František Juráň. The Gothic tower of the castle with its grounds and adjacent sections of fortifications (NCM), for which the name Trúba (popularly Kulatina) was adopted, forms a distinctive landmark of the town, which has been its owner since 1994. 

Jaroňek's shelter

(formerly U Mědínků, NCM) - the present form of the wooden building adjacent to the castle tower on the site of the upper palace dates from 1925. The building with folk elements was designed by the painter Bohumír Jaroněk.

Cottage of MUDr. Adolf Hrstka

(formerly Rašínova, NCM) - a tourist cottage, a log cabin from 1925 on the site of the lower palace. During the construction of the building, a secured entrance to the interior of the Chateau Hill and a cave called Slám's Cavern were discovered in the foundations.

The Old Tower

Bell tower of St. Bartholomew's Church (NCM)- a square brick tower with a wooden gallery on the hillside below the castle, a remnant of a Gothic parish church from the middle of the 14th century with a stone sculpture of the Madonna and Child Jesus from 1738. Since 1994 the church building has been used for cultural purposes under the name Amphitheater under the Old Tower.

City fortifications

It is original and shows the ground plan of the castle. The castle wall in the north is connected to the castle fortifications and defines the original town in the shape of an irregular pentagon.


Legends
How Trúba in Štramberk came into being

Once upon a time there were three brother knights, one in Hukvaldy Castle, one in Starý Jičín and the third settled in Štramberk. The first two knights had large, solid castles with a high tower from which they could see all their villages and towns and even see what the third one had for lunch in Štramberk. He really regretted that his castle was small and without a tower. So he decided to build a tower like no one had ever seen before, telling the brothers that it would have only one wall, with no end or beginning. The brothers laughed at him at first, but then looked approvingly at the strange round tower. From the towers of their castles, they were said to be able to use flags to communicate with each other. People called the strange structure the Stramberk Trúba. But be careful, in Štramberk, use the name with discretion in front of the locals, lest they think you are mocking them.


Why the Štramberk Trúba on Kotouč is not standing

The founder of Štramberk wanted to originally build the castle on Kotouč Hill. The precipitous wall on the southwest side of the hill would have saved him a good chunk of the ramparts. But no sooner had the workmen set to work than by morning all their work was undone. They toiled again, but it was of no avail; the next morning their work was again destroyed. The lord commanded that guards should be posted to keep watch over the hill during the night, and if there were any willful disturbers, to catch them and bring them to the proper punishment.
The guards went to bed some time after lunch to keep nice and fresh through the night, and in the evening they were given a double dinner to give them proper strength while they were keeping vigil.  In vain. Just after midnight, the guards came running to the lord, wide-eyed, telling him in amazement what had happened. At the stroke of eleven o'clock a bunch of little men with hammers and picks rushed up the hill, and in a little while they had dug up and scattered all that the masons had built during the day. The lord ordered the guards to be strengthened, but even so he could not stop the goblins in their ravages. He decided that further work would be futile there, and had the castle built on another hill, where the remains of it still stand, crowned "Trúba".

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Current weather

today, Friday 29. 3. 2024
light rain 15 °C 4 °C
Saturday 30. 3. sky is clear 21/9 °C
Sunday 31. 3. scattered clouds 18/12 °C
Monday 1. 4. light rain 18/8 °C