Hrubý Rohozec was originally a gothic fortress built just outside the town of Turnov by the ubiquitous Markvart family at the end of the 13th century, probably to control the trading route along the Jizera river. By then the noble Markvarts controlled most of the territory along the northern part of the Jizera river basin. The first lord of Rohozec was Beneš, son of Jaroslav who co-founded Turnov together with his brother Havel.

The castle changed ownership several times throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, including a period in the ownership of the Vartenberk family, another branch of the Markvart family.

The original castle was moated on three sides with an unusual prism shaped defensive tower. Later owners dramatically changed the castle’s appearance, and when the Vartenberks regained ownership of the castle for the second time in the 16th century they converted it into a Renaissance style residence.

The Vartenberks joined the Bohemian revolt in 1618, and after the defeat of the Protestant nobility in the battle of the White Mountain in 1620, their estates were confiscated, only to be repurchased by the famous Bohemian general Albrecht of Valdštejn (who was of course also a descendent of the Markvart family).

Albrecht only held the property for a short period and sold it to the French noble family of Des Fours in 1628. Hrubý Rohozec became the Des Fours family seat for over next three hundred years, before confiscation of the property by the State in 1945 under the Beneš decrees. Today, the interior of the castle has been refurbished to show how it might have looked in the last generations of Des Fours ownership in the early 20th century.

For more information: https://www.zamek-hrubyrohozec.cz/en