Švihov Castle, Gothic water castle in Švihov u Klatov, Czech Republic
Švihov Castle is a Gothic water castle near Klatov, surrounded by water moats fed from nearby ponds. The structure comprises two residential palaces, a five-story entrance tower, and four bastions forming a fortified complex.
The castle is first mentioned in 1375, founded by the lords of Rýzmberk. In 1434 Hussite troops besieged it and the garrison surrendered only after the moats were drained. Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk had it rebuilt in late Gothic style between 1480 and 1489, and his sons continued the fortifications with architect Benedikt Rejt. After the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand III ordered its demolition, but only part of the walls was razed and the palaces became a granary.
The castle chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, built 1480–1489, keeps four busts of the Church Fathers Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory, the only pieces of the original furnishings left. A 16th-century wall painting in the chapel shows Saint George on horseback spearing a dragon, with a kneeling princess and a lamb beside her.
The entrance tower of the castle core was repaired between 2014 and 2016 and opened to visitors for the first time. The outer moat survives complete on the western side, where it also fed the nearby mill. After the August 2002 floods, part of the outer fortification was rebuilt as a flood barrier.
The farm buildings of the outer bailey served as the setting for Václav Vorlíček's 1973 fairy tale Three Nuts for Cinderella, standing in for Cinderella's farmyard. A small permanent exhibition there displays original costumes and props, a counterpart to the larger show at Moritzburg Castle in Saxony. Parts of Narziss und Goldmund were shot here in 2018.
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