Rychmburk, Castle in Předhradí, Czech Republic

Rychmburk is a medieval castle on a spur above the Krounka and Lešanský potok valleys, 5 km east of Skuteč. Its rectangular two-storey building is separated from Předhradí by an artificial moat; the south corner has a Renaissance portal, the west corner a 14th-century round tower with sgraffito remains, and the round tower's second floor holds the 17th-century Chapel of the Holy Cross.

Tas of Mrdice founded the castle in the first quarter of the 14th century, around 1325, on land granted by King John of Luxembourg. The Lords of Pardubice acquired the estate before 1361, and the poet Smil Flaška of Pardubice held it from about 1390. In 1425 a Hussite force took the castle after its garrison surrendered, and in 1547 Emperor Ferdinand I confiscated it from Vilém of Valdštejn for his part in the Bohemian estates' revolt.

The castle's name comes from the Berka family's Reichenberg castle, and the village below was called Rychmburk until it took the name Předhradí. The round tower holds the Chapel of the Holy Cross from the second half of the 17th century, with a vaulted ceiling and two wooden paintings.

Rychmburk stands on a spur above the Krounka and Lešanský potok valleys, 5 km east of Skuteč in the Pardubice Region. The castle opened to the public in May 2021 after seventy years of closure. It is owned by the Pardubice Region.

The castle was confiscated from the Thurn und Taxis family after World War II and nationalized, then served for decades as a retirement home and social institution. It opened to the public only in May 2021, after seventy years of closure.