Lichnice

A royal castle ruin on the rim of the Železné hory above Třemošnice — Charles IV's inalienable fortress, razed in 1649, with the Milada platform of 2017 standing where the tower stood.

Lichnice guards the north-western rim of the Železné hory, where the hills drop suddenly to the Doubrava plain. Smil of Žitava founded the castle around 1250; Charles IV thought enough of it to list it among the royal castles that could never be sold, and stayed here himself. Fire gutted it in 1610, the Swedes besieged the ruin in 1646, and Ferdinand III had the walls slighted in 1649 so nobody could use them again. Since 2017 the Milada viewing platform — named after the old castle tower and its legend — stands on the tower’s footprint, with a circular view over the wooded ridges. The site is open May to October, and the Lovětínská gorge below the walls is the classic way up from Třemošnice.