Valdštejn
Castle · Czechia
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This early Gothic fortress crowns three sandstone towers in the Hruboskalsko rock city, and its covered footbridge, lined with Baroque statues added by the Jelínek brothers in 1725–35, is worth the stop before you even reach the ruins. Built around 1260–1280 by a branch of the Markvartic family, who took the name Lords of Valdštejn from their new seat, the castle later passed to the Vartenberks, was stormed by the Hussite commander Jan Žižka in 1424, and held a rival claimant to the Bohemian throne, Prince Zikmund Korybutovič, prisoner for a year in 1427. Robber bands seized it again in 1438–39, and around 1550 it burned to ruins, standing abandoned until a hermit settled among the rocks around 1700 and turned the site into a pilgrimage destination. The Waldstein family, whose descendant Albrecht von Wallenstein became the era's most famous general, then built the chapel of St John of Nepomuk in 1722, and the ruin has doubled as a rock-climbers' playground since the Second World War.
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From Wikipedia
Valdštejn Castle (Czech: hrad Valdštejn, German: Waldstein) is an early Gothic fortress near Turnov, in the Czech Republic. It can be found in the cliff dwelling city of Hruboskalsko, in the Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj). The city was built on three sandstone cliffs in the second half of the thirteenth century by Counts of the Waldstein family. After 1420 the castle was occupied by the Hussites, then later by robber barons. In 1621 the abandoned castle was bought back by the Waldsteins, whose most illustrious member was Albrecht von Wallenstein. During the peak of the Baroque period, they built a pilgrimage church, dedicated to John of Nepomuk, in 1722 on the ruins of the castle.