Blansko Castle, Gothic castle ruin in Mírkov, Czech Republic

Blansko Castle is a ruined Gothic fortress in the Mírkov area of the Czech Republic. The remaining stone structures show traces of medieval defensive design and stonework from centuries past.

Blansko Castle was built around 1400 and first documented in 1401, not 1431. Held mostly by the Vartenberk family, it was captured in 1402 by supporters of King Wenceslaus IV and again in 1416 by a royal army. After 1628 it was attached to the Krásný Březno estate and fell into ruin.

The German name Blankenstein, as old as the castle, appears in the oldest charters as Blanckinstein, Blangkenstein and Plankenstein and is read as "castle on bare stone", with blank also meaning white. The Czech form Blansko is rare in older sources. The frequent 16th-century form Plankenstein coincides with Wolfhart Plankner von Königsberg, who in 1515 styled himself "Herr auf Plankenstein".

The ruins are accessible via marked hiking paths through forest areas starting from the village. Bring proper footwear as the approach involves wooded terrain and elevation changes.

The hilltop is a basalt knoll, not a ridge, rising about 225 metres above the Ryjický potok valley roughly 500 metres away. The castle had no bergfried, a feature older research took as a sign of its late founding around 1400.