NEW CASTLE NEAR KUNRATICE

The ruins remained unchanged until the 2012–2013 reconstruction during which a new footbridge over the trench was also built. The castle was situated in an elevated position at the end of the long promontory defined by the deep valley of the Kuntratice Stream on three sides. Originally, there was only one access road to the castle from Chodov. The castle was separated from the other parts of the ridge by a trench dug into the rock, most of which has survived. The originally irregular five-sided castle compound faced visitors with the sharp edge of the corner of the palace structure, perhaps a tower, without a cellar. The access road going across the bridge entered the castle through the first gate on its northern side. There it led into a wide Zwinger defined by the walls. The road further continued alongside the northern wall of the palace to the second castle gate where it sharply turned over a narrow-walled trench, which has survived and that was once spanned by a cradle-structure bridge into the passageway, equipped with a cellar, going to the inner courtyard. Castle buildings enclosed the courtyard on all sides, though they mostly have not survived. A large rectangular palace encompassed the northern side of the compound; the originally vaulted cellar sunken in the rock has survived from the palace that was accessed by a staircase from the castle courtyard. The profiled stone mantel is the only surviving part of the castle equipment; it is now deposited in the Lapidarium of the National Museum in Prague.