History

Hrubá Skála Castle situated on a steep sandstone cliff was first mentioned in a 1353 deed, then a possession of the noble House of Waldstein, ancestors of Albrecht von Wallenstein. The manor was called Hrubá Skála to differ it from nearby Malá Skála.

Held by the Lords of Smiřice from 1515 onwards, the rebuilt Renaissance castle had become the centre of one of the largest Bohemian estates with more than 50 villages. Seized by Emperor Ferdinand II upon the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, it was again held by the Waldstein dynasty from 1630 and devastated by both Saxon and Imperial troops during the Thirty Years’ War.

In 1821, Franz de Paula Adam von Waldstein sold Hrubá Skála to Johann Anton Lexa von Aehrenthal. In 1859 the castle was again rebuilt in a Neo-Gothic style. After World War II the Aerenthal family was dispossessed and the German-speaking population expelled according to the Beneš decrees. Under Communist rule, the castle served as a recreation home, today it is run as a hotel.