Himmelstein - Heavenly rock above the gate to Hell

The ruins of the castle on the high basalt cone of Nebeská skála above the Pekelské potok valley near Stráže nad Ohří.
The territory on which the Himlštejn ruins stand belonged to the Benedictine monastery of Postoloprt until 1357 and was administered by the order's provostship in Boč, then it belonged to the Hauenstein estate. The castle was most likely built by Vilém from Illburk, who is mentioned as its owner in 1434. Before 1454, the castle was bought by Jindřich from Weiden, and from him before 1470, Hylprant Satanéř from Drahovice acquired it. Over time, Himlštejn was not in good condition, which is why Václav Satanéř had to repair it in the 1590s. In 1528, it came into the possession of the Šliks, for whom it was run. It is said to have been deserted in 1574. It was restored only by the highest mint master, Bedřich Šlik, lord of Planá and Hauenštejn. In 1588 he sold the Himlštejn manor with the castle to Šimon Ungnad from Sonnek, and in 1592 to Kryštof from Fictum and to Klášterec, to which it was then permanently attached.Thanks to the favorable terrain, the very interesting layout was fortified mainly on the access side. The first gate was located in an extended compartment. The second was a portal in the main wall, into which a large residential tower with a rectangular floor plan with a divided interior was tied in the corner next to the gate, the basement of which was vaulted in the younger phase. However, the main weight of the defense apparently did not lie on the main wall, but on the fence above the moat, perhaps for the most part lined only with earthen fortifications. In order to be able to load heavy cannons into it, the main wall near the gate was breached by another large portal. Two free-standing buildings stood on the highest point of the castle.Himlštejn is a typical building created during the Hussite Wars. The extreme position represents the first reaction to the shock of the effectiveness of the siege artillery. The fortifications were also very interesting and advanced for their time, although they did not allow for cross fire, which was not actually needed due to the extreme location. Similar to other contemporary castles built by wealthy governors, the residential tower is closer in type to the fortresses of the previous period. The suppression of the residential component corresponds to the time of creation, in which it was necessary to pay attention primarily to issues of defense capability.
In the saddle below the castle, by the access road from Stráž, at the source of one of the tributaries of the Pekelské stream, in the middle of the lush vegetation on the edge of the pasture, there are the distinctive ruins of the farmyard of Himlštejn. The courtyard, which after the removal of the original German population was inhabited only seasonally for the needs of the shepherds of the state farm, has been turning into a picturesque ruin since the 1980s. Currently, the site consists of the ruins of four buildings, which represent the closed floor plan of the farm yard.Currently, the site consists of the ruins of four buildings, which represent the closed floor plan of the farm yard. The functional interpretation of the individual objects is relatively clear: the central building is a two-story residential building with a longitudinal rectangular shape. The other three buildings have signs of farm buildings, they were probably a barn, a shed and a stable. Based on the stylistic analysis of the building constructions, the administrative building can be roughly dated to the early modern period - late Renaissance or Baroque. However, the remains of archaic constructions (black kitchen) were also found, probably showing a late medieval age.