Kunětice Mountain Castle

Kunětice Mountain Castle (Czech: hrad Kunětická hora) stands on the hill of the same name in the municipality of Ráby, about six kilometres from Pardubice. At 295 metres, the hill is the highest point of the wide plain around the city. Since 2002 the castle has been a National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic.

Archaeological finds show a large castle with two towers and a palace by the second half of the 14th century at the latest. During the Hussite Wars, the commander Diviš Bořek of Miletínek made the castle his seat from 1421. At the end of the 15th century Vilém of Pernštejn acquired the estate and had the castle rebuilt in the late Gothic style. In the Thirty Years’ War Swedish troops took and devastated it in 1645, after which it fell into ruin.

Only in the 20th century did the Pardubice Museum Society have the ruin rebuilt to plans by the architect Dušan Jurkovič. Today the castle is open to the public as a museum. On display are surviving murals, including a depiction of Samson and Delilah from 1523 – the oldest known Renaissance mural in Bohemia. Concerts and theatre performances are held occasionally.