tvrz Šabina Fortress

Šabina is a Renaissance fortified manor that was created by converting an older Gothic fortress. It stands in the village of the same name in the Sokolovsko region, on the right bank of the Ohře river. Not far away, a footbridge crosses the river at the site of a former ferry.

Who built the original Gothic fortress is uncertain. It could have been the Perglers of Perglas, or the Štolcs of Simsdorf. Historians tend to favor the Perglers, because according to them, the wealthy Štolcs would have built a more impressive residence. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the village was held by Vilém Pergler of Perglas, the Lokety castellan. In the year fifteen twenty-five, Václav Pergler is listed as the owner.

After the defeat of the Estates Rebellion, King Ferdinand the First leased Šabina in fifteen fifty-one to Mikuláš Štolc of Simsdorf, the Lokety judge. His property was later divided among three sons, and in fifteen sixty-seven, the middle son Jiří acquired the village together with the fortress. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Štolcs' estates were confiscated. Šabina was then given to Bartoloměj Brunner of Vildenau, a counselor of the royal appellate court in Prague.

After the Thirty Years War, the fortress lost its importance as a fortified residence. However, it continued to serve economic and administrative purposes, and owners changed hands. In sixteen fifty-one it was owned by Colonel Jan Jakub Pirovano, and three years later it belonged to the Kynšperk estate of the Metternichs. In seventeen sixty-five the Nosticové family acquired the village and attached it to their Falknov estate. They renovated the fortress in the Baroque style.

Until approximately eighteen seventy the fortress functioned as an inn. In eighteen ninety-one, after renovation, a single-class village school moved in here, along with the teacher's apartment. The school remained there until nineteen four, when a new two-class school opened in the village. Then a baker named Jakob ran a bakery in the fortress. After nineteen forty-eight it served a state farm as a granary and storage. After the Velvet Revolution it passed into private hands. It has been a cultural monument since nineteen sixty-three and its condition today is described as dilapidated.

The fortress is a freestanding brick single-story building with a rectangular floor plan of roughly nineteen by thirteen point eight meters and a hipped roof. On the northeastern façade, between the windows, there is a relief coat of arms of the Štolcs with the initials of Jiří Štolc. It was placed here after fifteen sixty-seven.

The ground floor rooms have richly profiled comb vaulting arranged into cross and star patterns. This is typical of the transition from Gothic to early Renaissance. Two valuable original portals have also been preserved on the ground floor. From the time of the Nosticové comes part of the window frames and wall painting in the large hall on the first floor, which is whitewashed today.