Castle Roupov, Gothic castle ruin in Roupov, Czech Republic.

Castle Roupov is a Gothic castle ruin sitting on elevated terrain in the village of Roupov. Its remaining stone walls and structural elements show how medieval builders constructed fortifications during that era.

Roupov Castle was founded in the 13th century by Držek of Roupov of the Drslavic family. In the 1380s Něprem of Roupov, steward of Archbishop Jan of Jenštejn, rebuilt the core using the court workshop of Wenceslas IV. In 1427 Jan I of Roupov accepted the Hussite chalice rather than see the castle besieged, and the family profited from confiscated church estates.

The village and castle gave their name to the lords of Roupov, whose line produced Jan II, supreme scribe of the kingdom from 1486 to 1493. The Czech film Zbojník, set in 1278, places its fictional hero Oldřich of Roupov here as son of the founder Držek.

You can reach the castle ruins by following marked hiking trails from the village center. Accessibility and ground conditions vary depending on the season.

The castle's most distinctive surviving element is the octagonal brick chimney hood of the late Gothic kitchen, which now dominates the ruin. The kitchen itself is a square ground-floor room of rough-cut stone with semicircular wall niches; the palace floors above it have not survived.