Dubá (Dubá) Castle

The castle Dubá used to stand in the northern part of the village Dubá in the direction of Česká Lípu, on the island near the pond. Not a single stone has been preserved from this medieval fortress today - the complex is completely built by a new building. Yet it is an interesting aspect of local history, which illustrates how various noble families shaped the landscape of the northern part of the kingdom.

The beginnings of the castle are linked to the Ronovce family. After 1257, Dubou obtained Častolov ze Žitavy from this genus. His son Jindřech became a key figure, also called Hynek, who owned Dubou from 1276 to 1286. He's the one who assumes he had the castle built on the edge of the pond. This building was so important that it called the whole branch of the family - the transition from Ronovci to the lords of Dubé.

Family property was divided over time. After 1309, Hynka's descendants split it. Dubou inherited another Hynek, nicknamed Berka. Although he controlled the castle, he himself did not reside here - his main headquarters were in Prague and Kladsk. In 1327 the castle Lipý was acquired, located in today's České Lípa, which became a new family centre. Since then, the family has been carrying a predicate of the Dube and Lipé. After Hynko's death in 1348, Dubou took over Jindřich from Dubé. Even he did not stay here, for he also owned the castles of Yestřebí and Housk.

The estate existed until the end of the 14th century. In the next division of the property, it gradually disappeared. There was no record of exactly when the castle was desolate. At the end of the eighteenth century, there were still to be visible walls and foundations in the landscape. According to the information available, the castle had a square plan and was probably a wooden design. However, when at the end of the nineteenth century the explorer August Sedláček visited the place, he found no visible remains of the castle.

The local area of April was also part of the романská rotunda located in the lower part of the old cemetery. This building came from the middle of the thirteenth century and served both residents and masters of the castle. After 1713, it changed its destination - it became a granary, a skeleton, and was finally torn down.

Today, the resort, which perhaps occupied the edge of the plateau on the northern edge of the city, lies under a new residential building. The visitor can no longer physically notice these majestic medieval buildings, yet the site tells about the rich history created in northern Bohemia by the local noblemen's tusks and their ambition to base themselves on their own territory.