Sokolčí, Castle ruin in Děkanské Skaliny, Czech Republic

Sokolčí is a castle ruin with Gothic architectural features in the Děkanské Skaliny area. The remains show a crenelated rampart and buildings that were arranged around a central courtyard.

Sokolčí was probably founded after 1358 by Jindřich of Velešín, who that year sold his share of Velešín to his brother Beneš. In 1387 Beneš of Velešín sold the castle and the town of Benešov to Ulrich I of Rosenberg, who attached it to the Nové Hrady estate. A Rosenberg register of 1541 already records it as a ruin.

The castle's name Sokolčí means "falcon's" in Czech, and German sources call it Falkenburg. Since 1963 the ruin has been listed as a cultural monument, and it forms one stop on the Zemská cesta, a Czech-Austrian route linking castles and chateaux. The rock beneath the walls is a climbing site with 42 documented routes.

The ruin is freely accessible; a branch off the red-marked trail from Kaplice to Benešov nad Černou leads to it, and the Údolím Černé nature trail runs through the valley below. The rock beneath the castle is a climbing area with 42 documented routes, but no climbing gear is needed to visit the ruins themselves.

The rock beneath the ruin is a climbing site with 42 documented routes. On the opposite bank of the Černá, in the slopes of the Hradišťský vrch spur, lie several frost-riven crags with pseudokarst caves; the largest faces the castle directly, and a smaller cave sits in the rocks below it.