The town is named this due to the town centre being surrounded on three sides by the Ohre River, and the shape the river takes is similar to that of an elbow. Most people visit Loket as a day trip from Karlovy Vary, but it's also a relaxing place to ease off the travel accelerator for a few days. It attracts tourists not only with historical sights and picturesque landscape but also with sports.
Loket, originally called Stein-Elbogen due to its rocky location, is said to have been founded in 870 by the margraves of Vohenburg who were then related to the dukes of Bavaria to whom the entire Elbogen districts belonged until the 12th century. By the turn of the 13th century a settlement was built around the castle walls and later raised into a royal town. From the 1250s the castle was gradually enlarged and the formerly Romanesque building turned into a Gothic stronghold which was often visited by the members of the royal family.
Undoubtedly the main attraction of the town of Loket is Loket castle that has been towering above the town since the 12th century. Today it offers several interesting viewing tours. Once known as "the Impregnable Castle of Bohemia", because of its thick walls, it is one of the oldest and most valuable historical stone castles in the Czech lands.
The castle is divided into nine different parts containing many medieval artefacts of historical interest. Besides the Margrave's House where an exhibition of porcelain is on display and the remains of a Romanesque rotunda, the smallest of its type in the Czech Republic. The castle also features the prison cells and the chamber of torture, the wedding and the ceremonial hall, the historical arms and Archeological hall, a Romanesque prismatic tower, the 15th-century burgrave's house and the captain's house, and a 16th-century palace with two wings and fortifications incorporating strongholds.
Every year the town plays host to an Opera festival, with performances by the Czech National Opera in an outdoor amphitheatre with the castle as a backdrop, and is also host for the Czech motocross grand prix. The town centre and castle were both used as locations in the 2006 film Casino Royale, representing a town in Montenegro.
Photos: wikipedia.org
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