Sokolov Castle

The castle's origins date back to the 13th century, when a fortified settlement of the Notthafft brothers existed on this site. Archaeological findings confirm a moated fortress with a round wall and a rectangular residential palace. After changing owners, including the Winkler family and the royal chamber, Kaspar Schlick acquired the dominion in 1434. The Schlicks converted the fortress into a castle with four corner towers around 1480. Johann Albin von Schlick, a leader of the Bohemian Estates Uprising, lost the property after the defeat at White Mountain in 1620. In 1622, the estate passed to the Nostitz family. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle served as a defensive structure, but was plundered by the Swedes in 1648 and subsequently lay in ruins. Johann Hartwig Nostitz had it converted into a late Renaissance castle between 1659 and 1663. Around 1730, a French garden was created. In the War of the Austrian Succession (1742) and the Seven Years' War (1762), the castle was occupied and plundered by French and Prussian troops, respectively. Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck renovated it in the Neoclassical style from 1800 to 1805. In the 19th century, the castle park was gradually transformed into a city park. After World War II, the castle was expropriated in 1945 and briefly served as the headquarters of the American army, later as a barracks for the Czechoslovak People's Army, during which it was significantly damaged. From the 1960s onwards, a gradual renovation began, and the Mining Museum, later City Museum, moved in. A comprehensive renovation in 1993–1994 restored its Neoclassical character.

Sokolov Castle is located in the town of Sokolov in the Karlovarský kraj (Karlovy Vary) district in the Severozápad (Northwest) region of the Czech Republic, at an altitude of approximately 406 m above sea level.