Hey there my Hive friends and followers!
Although my Czech homeland is very small in terms of area, there are hundreds of amazing castles and chateaus here whose origins date back to long centuries ago. When me and my sister were little kids, our parents often took us on tours around these castles and chateaus but honestly, we were not much interested in them back then. I have never really been a fan of old, historical stuff as I don´t find these things that exciting but I recently realized that over the years, I have been slowly changing my attitude towards old architecture and it seems that I have been particularly growing fond of medieval castles and churches.
The Middle Ages are referred to as the Dark Ages for a reason but at the same time, there is something fascinating about this historical era and I can feel it the most when looking at these monumental pieces of Gothic architecture scattered around my country.
A couple of days ago, we went for a trip to one of the most famous Gothic castles in the country, the legendary Okor Castle. Built in the 13th century, the castle is located just outside of Prague and it only takes a short bus drive to get there. Right after arriving to the castle though, we realized there were two major problems. First, we didn´t check out the internet before going and to our unpleasant surprise, the castle was closed that day. And second, the weather was getting more and more horrible so I soon gave up on the idea of taking some nice colorful pictures of the castle.
After the initial disappointment, however, I decided to still give it a shot and make the most out of what we were left with - a closed and abandoned old castle towering eerily under sinister, cloudy skies. This set up was literally calling for some dark, ghostly photo shooting so I wasted no time and started clicking from wherever it was possible to get.
When checking out and editing the photos later in my laptop, I was considering putting them all in monochrome, just like I did it with this post about a concentration camp in Poland but eventually, I decided to leave them in the original colors so that you can get an idea of what the place really felt like. I know the pictures look as if they were taken in the evening but in fact, it was around the noon, it was just this insanely cloudy that day... Without further ado, here is a little collection that I compiled from those photos for you.
I hope you enjoyed the shots despite their grim atmosphere. I actually forgot to mention that the Okor Castle is mostly just ruins these days but I guess you figured that out from the photos. The castle has a very long and turbulent history, it has witnessed many historical events, eras, wars and reconstructions. It fell into disrepair at the end of the 18th century and was decaying since then until 1965 when it was given the status of a Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic and has been preserved ever since but already in this ruined form.
During the summer season, the castle is visited by masses of tourists and it´s also the venue of many cultural events and festivals. Actually, as I´m thinking about it right now, I´m glad that we got to visit this iconic castle on the day that we did because we literally had the castle just for ourselves, which is something you don´t get to experience every day :)
To find out the exact location of the Okor Castle, feel free to check out the Pinmapple, I pinned it there ;)
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Náhodou sú tie fotky super a mali ste hrad len pre seba a to je ďalšie plus. A aj tie mraky sú dramatické a páči sa mi to. Ú nás máme teray jeden veľký sivý koberec, takže úplne zle 😅
Neviem ako u vás, ale na Slovensku sa teraz veľa hradov renovuje. Práce sú robené tradičnými metódami a robotníci sú väčšinou nezamestnaní ľudia z okolia, takže je to super projekt. Veľa hradov dostalo novú strechu a múry, takže sa podľa mňa čoskoro zmenia na múzeá...
Inak, neboli tam nejaké obrázky toho ako vyzeral predtým?
Tak to jsem rád, že i tahle "temná" varianta hradu se líbí :D Mohli jsme to úplně zabalit a jet rovnou domů, ale to mi přišlo škoda, když už jsme tam byli :) A je fakt, že zrovna k takovýmto tajemným gotickým ruinám se zamračená obloha hodí, takže nakonec ten shooting nebyl špatný ;)
Jo, v ČR se taky hodně hradů renovuje a využívají se k tomu místní lidé a různí dobrovolníci, takže to bude asi stejné jak na Slovensku ;) Máte tam taky spoustu krásných hradů a zámků. Moc se mi podle fotek líbí třeba Bojnice, ale ještě jsem tam nebyl :)
Jak vypadal Okoř původně? Těžko říct, chátrá už víc jak 200 let, takže ta původní podoba se ani nikde nedochovala. Na fotkách určitě ne, maximálně nějaká malba nebo kresba, ale nic takového jsem neviděl...
To je dobry Cicipan z Cicovic!😎😃
Myslíš Číčovice - Velké Číčovice nebo Číčovice - Malé Číčovice? :D
What an impressive place... It's easy to imagine some gargoyles flying around there!.... :))) Excellent article and amazing photos @phortun friend!... Thanks for sharing...
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@phortun! Your Content Is Awesome so I just sent 1 $BBH (Bitcoin Backed Hive) to your account on behalf of @jlinaresp. (4/5)
Thank you so much for your kind feedback, support and retweet, I really appreciate it :) And yeah, I can definitely imagine some dragon living in the castle back in the medieval times :D
Really nice I love old castles !!
Me too! Took me some time to be able to appreciate them but I´m finally there :) Thanks for checking out the post and for your support!
I just wanted to say that your photographs of Okor Castle are truly stunning. Despite the gloomy weather and the fact that the castle was closed, you managed to capture the eerie and haunting beauty of the place. Your photos evoke a sense of mystery and wonder, making me want to explore the castle and its history even more.
It's also great to hear that you're slowly growing fond of old architecture, and it's clear that your passion for photography is growing alongside it. Your dedication and persistence to capture the beauty of the castle, even under less than ideal circumstances, is admirable.
Keep up the fantastic work, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Happy to be !ALIVE
Thank you very much for this kind and thoughtful comment, I really appreciate it :) Glad to see that I have managed to convey the atmosphere of the place trough the pictures. Thanks for checking them out. Cheers!
@phortun! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @old-man-chu58. (8/10)
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Definitely has some ominous and ancient vibes! Really awesome shots!
Thanks man! Glad to know I was able to capture those vibes :) You know, my old phone camera usually struggles pretty bad in poor light conditions like these but changing the theme obviously helped a lot :D
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Wow, again! Thank you guys! :)
Dík za připomenutí. Na Okoři jsem nikdy nebyl. A přitom je tam prej cesta, jako žádná ze sta... :D
Já tam byl taky poprvé :) Ani jsem nevěděl, že je to v podstatě hned za Prahou, půlhodinka busem... Jenom to načasování nám úplně nevyšlo, ale tak zase aspoň mohl vzniknout tenhle tajemně-temný post, který se očividně taky líbí :D
Tak to bych si těch 30 dal klidně běžmo, ale od nás je to přes 100, to nedám :D
Tak autem mno. Ale já tam teda asi chytnu ty turisty :D
Tak doporučuju vyrazit, když je hnusně, to většinou na turisty platí :D
I can never get enough of these leftovers from the past that express so much through so little! Too bad they are not very well preserved everywhere :(
Yeah, I´m sure you have a lot of places like this in Romania too. Well, ruins are always kind of sad but on the other hand, if all old buildings were perfectly preserved and taken care of, we wouldn´t have these mysterious / romantic / eerie places that many people actually find beautiful and even fascinating :)
The castle looks legendary, man! Just like in the movies. I love it. I'd love to visit this place. Even at noon, you were able to capture the gloom of the evening thanks to the weather. I can't believe how many wars this place has survived.
Thanks buddy :) Yeah, it did feel like visiting a scene from some horror movie :D Like Frankenstein or Dracula :D Well, the castle has been through a lot, that´s for sure... Thank you for stopping by!
Děkuji za inspiraci. Vypadá to jako krásné místo na procházku.
No, v tuhle dobu a za toho počasí, co jsme měli, to bylo spíš na stezku odvahy než příjemnou procházku, ale mělo to svoje kouzlo ;) Díky za návštěvu a komentář.
From someone who lives in a country were castles aren't thing back then until now, I'm always fascinated to see castles like this abandoned or not. I can only imagine how things used to be here back in the day. Appreciate the virtual tour! ❤️
Thank you :) I can imagine how cool and exotic old castles can be for people from countries where this kind of architecture doesn´t exist... It was a pleasure to take you on this little tour :)
It´s really scary hahaha
I thought that nothing is scary to superheroes like Gatubela :D
It isn't 😼 I was thinking about normal human beings hehehe 😎 poor of them
:D
Bílou paní ani trampy jsi asi nepotkal :-)
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Nepotkali jsme tam ani živáčka :)
To by mi vyhovovalo :-)
Já vím ;)
:-)
There are cute all the same and they speak volumes of what actually went down in Okor castle.
A status well deserved🙂
Good job @phortun
Thanks for your feedback, glad that you enjoyed this post and learned something new :) Cheers!
You're most welcomed and thanks for sharing.🙂
Wow.
The castle really looks old and iconic as you've said. I love the photos and I appreciate you for sharing with us.
Thanks, glad that you enjoyed this little spooky tour :)
Oh yes..
Sure I did.
Wao very great and amazing castle. In this kind of weather whenever one goes outside to walk around and see such a place one feels a lot of comfort and a lot of enjoyment the way we see it is an old building and a very strong building.
Thanks for this original feedback. I hope you feel a lot of comfort today :)
The atmosphere may look grim but the photos are wonderful. I enjoyed them and I hope to see more of them.
Thanks for your kind feedback, I appreciate it :)
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Amazing photography that place is looking very beautiful and the atmosphere looks also awesome.
Thanks for checking out the photos.
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ARCHITECTURE IS INSPIRATIONAL. I LOVE THIS UNIQUE POST
I love old castles and fortifications! Got started on those in the Caribbean, can't get enough. So much history and lives lived in these places. Amazing!
!CTP
Thanks! Caribbean? I saw some impressive forts from the Spanish colonization era over there but those are a few centuries younger :) Old castles definitely have their very unique vibes, especially on cloudy days :D Thanks for swinging by!
Castles are much older! Some of the ruins in central America compare in age and are worth the look. But in Europe many of the old ruined castles just don't get many visitors so it's just you and the ruins!
!PIZZA
Yeah, that´s right :) Europe is literally packed with architecture that was built hundreds of years ago and not all of them are popular tourist attractions so you can find some pieces that you can admire in solitude and contemplation ;) But those ruins from Mayan, Aztec, Toltec etc. civilizations in Latin America are also cool! I spent a few years in there too and got to visit some of these landmarks. Fascinating structures.
Thank you! :)