Grabštejn, Renaissance castle in Chotyně, Czech Republic

Grabštejn is a castle complex on a slope above Chotyně, with a long, high wall of weathered tan and grey plaster pierced by irregular rows of rectangular windows. Behind its far right end rises a round tower with a grey dome and a smaller cupola, ringed by small windows. A lower section with a dark arched opening continues down the slope.

The oldest part, called Ulsitz, dates from the 13th century and was probably built by the burgraves of Dohna, who held it for three centuries. In 1562 Georg Mehl von Strehlitz bought the castle for 30,000 Rhenish florins and rebuilt it as a Renaissance château between 1566 and 1586. After the Thirty Years' War, when a Swedish garrison occupied it in 1645, the fortifications were demolished by imperial order in 1655; the Clam-Gallas family owned it from 1704 until confiscation in 1945.

The chapel of St. Barbara, remodelled during Georg Mehl's rebuilding of 1566–1586, holds wall and ceiling paintings attributed to Heinrich Bocksberger, a Salzburg-born painter also linked to the Small Lenten Cloth in nearby Zittau. Before 1838 Christian Christoph Clam-Gallas acquired for its altar the painting "Mary in the Green", probably a copy of an early work by Joseph von Führich.

The castle is accessible through organized tours that take visitors through its various rooms and spaces. Parking facilities and accessibility options are available to accommodate different visitor needs.

From the castle tower, visitors can see the borders of three countries at once: the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. This rare viewpoint offers a memorable perspective on the intersection of three neighboring regions.