Žumberk Fortress, Medieval fortified house in Žumberk, Czech Republic

Žumberk Fortress is a four-winged, single-storey building with annexes on its north and west wings, standing on the south-western edge of the village above a pond on the Svinenský stream. A passage in the east wing leads into a small square courtyard with sgraffito façades and arcaded galleries. A wall with cylindrical bastions surrounds the fortress, the nearby church of St John the Baptist and the former manor farm.

The core of the fortress dates from the late 15th century, when Ludvík of Žumberk built a new late Gothic residence. Around 1600 it was rebuilt as a Renaissance villa, and the perimeter wall with bastions was probably added in 1612–1615. In 1817 it was sold to four subjects and divided; after 1945 it passed to the state and was fully restored in 1969–1974.

The name Žumberk comes from the noble family ze Žumberka, first documented in 1383 with Pavlík. In the fortress church, the 1600 epitaph of Jindřich Pouzar shows a knight kneeling before the Crucified. The museum displays painted South Bohemian folk furniture.

The fortress stands on the southwestern edge of the village above the pond on the Svinenský stream, which protects it on the west and south. The museum branch is open to the public, and the grounds are reached on foot. The ramparts with four accessible bastions were restored from 1997, two of them holding an accessible lapidarium.

The rampart wall with its bastions enclosed not only the fortress but also the church of St John the Baptist and the manor farm, so the fortified area was larger than the village itself. Five of the seven cylindrical bastions survive; two house an accessible lapidarium.