Litýš Ruin

Litýš is a ruins of the chateau located on the same-name hill 491 meters high in the Czech Central Mountains. It is located in the settlement Nová Vesnička, which is part of the village of Liběšice in the district of Litoměřice, about one kilometre southeast of the village of Lower Týnek. Today, his characteristic defenses - walls and moats - and only tiny remnants of the original masonry remained in the chateau. The chateau has been protected as a cultural monument since 1890.

The builder of the chateau was Zikmund Děčínský z Vartenberka, which in 1422 obtained from Emperor Zikmund a large estate of the former bull commendation. The chateau was to serve as a strategic fortress to secure the estate, and its location was to be balanced by the presence of the nearby Kalich Chateau, which belonged to Žižka's accounting. The first written mention of the chateau appears only in 1432, when the records show Purcraby Mikuláš z Lhota. After Zikkunda's death in 1438, the chateau became the property of his second wife Anežka of Šternberk, who, however, inherited it briefly, died months later. The chateau belonged to the brothers Aleš and Zdeněk of Sternberk, who sold it in 1454 to John, who was the younger son of the original builder.

Since 1459, Litýš has become the center of the manor in the property of Jan from Čechác to Tetčinev. The estate was later linked to the Vartemberk family when Yano's only daughter married Christopher of Vartemberk. After Christopher's death, the estate was taken over by his youngest brother Václav, who replaced him with his uncle Christopher of Vartemberk for a quarter of Česká Lípa in 1532. New owner, however, reside in Litýši didn't mean to, and instead he had a remote housing fort fixed where he settled his yard. Without active administration the chateau gradually deserted - burned down and already in 1544 it was listed as a wasteland in the archives.

The chateau core has a floor plan in the form of a trapezoid which is divided into two height levels. In the lower part there was a courtyard surrounded by a wall - this wall is still the best preserved rest of the original wall. The tank was built by three-party buildings that protected the expected space for military crews and economic traffic. On a higher level, which is made up of natural trachy rock, only the submersible cut down into the rock - the ground-floor features that suggest the existence of a wooden tower or towers. The northern and eastern sides of the chateau were protected by a massive system of two valleys and ditches.

Nowadays, the peak with the remains of the chateau is accessible from the marked tourist route: the visitor turns from the red marked route leading from Třebushín to Úštěk. Although the chateau remained "only" a modest torsion of masonry, walls and moat, they represent a sufficiently noticeable outline of the real medieval fortress. Litýš thus allows visitors to visualize how the region of Before was built according to the military and political needs of its time.