Pernstejn Castle

Pernstejn Castle immediately catches your attention. With its sharp stone towers, irregular jutting edges and roofs, and a suspended wooden bridge linking one building to another, Pernstejn is easily one of the most erratic looking fortresses around. It resembles a rickety countryside cottage hewed out of stone. Fortunately for history buffs, its past is no less jagged, as its strategic location near Brno ensured that it saw lots of combat. Built first in the 13th century, it became a base for bandits and robbers after Moravia disintegrated into factions in the late 14th century.
During the 30-year war, it was unsuccessfully put under siege by the Swedes, ensuring that Bohemia retained its stranglehold over Brno. The castle’s unusual architectural style can be partially attributed to this time; pressed for space, the way the castle’s owners would expand quarters would be by building new halls on the upper floors that were larger than the floors below using cantilevers, giving Pernstejn its jutting look. There’s a lot to explore―stop for a moment in the entrance hall’s huge Gothic vaulted ceilings or wander through the tapestries of the hunting room on the third floor. Peek into the Chinese Salon, complete with blue and gold ‘Chinese’ style paintings. Walk through the expansive library, filled with 15,000 volumes of books, the earliest of which dates back to 1515. Just make sure to come in the summer as in October the castle shuts down and doesn’t reopen until April.