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Architectural and historical development... (1/2)
KARLSTEJN CASTLE
The
present castle is the result of a number of repairs and reconstructions,
but its original conception has been preserved. 
The
original gradated arrangement of the individual parts - from the lowest
structure, the well tower and the burggrave's residence to the somewhat
higher tower with the Church of Our Lady and finally the most important
building of the castle as a whole - the Great Tower with the Chapel
of the Holy Rood - has also survived.
The
first Late Gothic adaptations of the castle were carried out in the
late 15th century, at the time of the burggrave Benes
of Weitmil and Albrecht of Kolovraty,
when the original burggrave's residence was enlarged and a new staircase
was built-on on to the Imperial Palace. Modifications of the ground-floors
of the Marian and the Great Tower were realized. The adaptation of the
way of access to the castle can be placed in the same period. It originally
led via the drawbridge to the tower called Vorsilka. The new route ran
along the bottom of the original ditch to the gate built in front of
Vorsilka. Thus the present approach through the first gate originated,
Vorsilka becoming only a part of the fortification system.
In
the early 16th century the burggrave's residence was newly adapted. This
building was the most widely used part of the castle. A new palace was
added to it on the southern side. It had a vaulted ground-floor and
a frame first floor, similarly as today. The rooms on the ground-floor
had a beautiful Late Gothic diamond vault. They are now used for solemn
occasions and receptions.
The
next big reconstruction was carried out in the spirit of the Renaissance
with the participation of the outstanding architect Oldrich
Avostalis de Sallo, who also worked at Prague Castle. It was
preceded by partial modifications which included, for example, the provision
of a new gate leading from the first courtyard to the inner part of
the castle. The coat-of-arms of the then burggrave, Borita
of Martinice, was set above it. This burggrave also had a new
staircase running from the inner gate to the foot of the Marian Tower
built. As a result the originally specified passage through the castle
via the imperial palace and the Marian Tower up to the Great Tower and
thus also Charles's wellthought-out concept of the grading of the castle
up to its summit were violated. However, according to preserved reports
some of the castle buildings were already in a very bad state. After
the death of King Vaclav IV the
unoccupied Imperial Palace became delapidated and the wall paintings
from the time of Charles IV in
St. Nicholas's Chapel and the Imperial Hall were destroyed.
The
castle burggrave, Jáchym Novohradsky
of Kolovraty, made himself responsible for systematic repairs
of the whole castle. The general appearance of the imperial palace changed,
its third floor being provided with a brick wall with Renaissance windows
in place of the frame masonry. The imperial palace was connected with
the neighbouring Marian or church tower by means of vaulted passages.
The
Renaissance reconstruction also affected the structure of the Marian
Tower, having the relatively smallest effect on the Great Tower, which
gained new battlements, its Gothic gables being replaced with Renaissance
ones. The separate fortifications of the Great Tower were supplemented
with new corner towers for the guards. All the fortifications walls
and the facades of the individual buildings gained new plaster decorated
with letter graffito. As witnessed by a number of views from a later
period, the castle had a very picturesque appearance at that time.
