V Becove uz jedna keska byvala, od jara roku 2005. Berte proto, prosime, tuto kesku nejen jako seznameni s becovskym hradem, ale tez jako poklonu a podekovani keskam stareho razeni, na kterych jsme se ucili, co to je geocaching.
Nekolik informaci z historie:
Hrad byl zalozen na zacatku 14. stoleti jako lenni hrad Koruny ceske a strezil dulezitou krizovatku na kralovske ceste mezi Loktem a Plzni. Pisemne je hrad prvne zminen v roce 1314 jako sidlo Borese z Oseka a Ryzmburka. Ti zdejsi kraj kolonizovali a z Becova se vladlo panstvi od Perstejna po Kynzvart, Zlutice a Ostrov. Pod hradem vyrostlo mestecko, které získalo mestska privilegia. Diky tomu, ze na panstvi becovskem se ve velkem zacal tezit cin a nasledne stribro, bylo o rust postarano.
Po te, co se krajem prehnali husite a hrad dobyli, zakotvil v drzeni Pluhu z Rabstejna. Pluhove byli jednim z nejbohatsich rodu v Cechach a zastavali mista nejvyssich kralovskych uredniku. O svuj majetek Pluhove prisli za ucast v povstani proti Ferdinandovi I. Behem drzeni hradu uskutecnili jeho vyraznou prestavbu, hlavne pristavenim renesancniho Pluhovskeho palace.
Hrad pak sel z ruky do ruky, coz mu samozrejme nesvedcilo. V roce 1648 byl hrad prepaden svedskym vojskem. Posadka byla zajata a hrad ponicen. Casem byly skody odstraneny, ale panskym sidlem se uz hrad nikdy nestal a slouzil hospodarskym ucelum. Poslednímu naporu odolal hrad koncem 19. stoleti, kdy zde pusobil slavny architekt Zitek, který chtel hrad kompletne prestavet v romantickem duchu, a tim znicit to nejcennejsi, co na hradu je – jeho puvodni stredoveky raz. Na realizaci Zitkovych planu se nanasly penize.
Protoze se hrad prestal pomerne brzo pouzivat jako panske sidlo, nebyl uz v prubehu casu prestavovan a minula jej i v nasich krajich tolik popularni barokizace, je zachovan v puvodni syrove stredoveke podobe. Uvnitr vezovitych hradnich staveb je zachovana rada mistnosti a komor vytapenych kamny a krby a soustava kominu.
Opravdovym klenotem je gotická hradni kaple. Kaple je velka 10x14 metru a 10 metru vysoka. Ma zebrovou kamennou klenbu se dvema svorniky. Unikatni jsou puvodni nedotcene goticke nastenna malby. Zachycuji 17 biblickych vyjevu a Slunce, Mesic a hvezdy. Tyto malby maji mysticko – astrologicky obsah, ktery nebyl zatim rozlusten. Vse se zde zachovalo, protoze kaple byla pouzivana nekolik staleti jako sypka. Nechme vsak promluvit pametníka a svedka udalosti - Island(a)968: „V dobe meho pusobeni na hrade probihala na malbach v kapli zachranna konzervace. Byla pouzita puvodni stredoveka metoda, kdy barva byla vyrabena ze smesi vajecnych bilku a na prach rozdrcenych drahokamu. Napr. modra barva = v bilcich rozdrceny lapis lazuli.
Dobre si pamatuji, ze v pravem vzdalenejsim rohu kaple zela v podlaze velka dira. Z te v roce 1985 vykopali prazstí kriminaliste unikatni poklad Relikviar svateho Maura. To je 140 x 42 x 65 cm velka, bohate zdobena skrinka s ostatky svateho Maura. Mnohokrate jsem mluvil s pametniky onoho hledani. O patrani po Maurovi jsou napsany knihy i natoceny filmy, ale jake se okolo toho ve skutecnosti dely zpravodajske hry a jaka byla skutecnost, se jiz nikdo asi nedovi.“
Spolecne s Maurem byly nalezeny i dalsi zajimave veci, ale ty asi skoncily v domácnostech tehdejsich mocipanu. Jiste je, ze poslední drzitele Becova, belgicky rod Beaufort – Spontini, byl silne profasisticky, a proto v roce 1945 pobral jen to nejnutnejsi a uprchl. Relikviar zahrabali v hradni kapli. Tam 40 let hnil ve vlhke zemi. Po jeho nalezeni a uvedomeni si jeho obrovske hodnoty, byl relikviar zamcen v bankovnim trezoru, kde se vlivem vysuseni a tepla prakticky rozpadnul. První pokus o restauraci relikviare ve statni rezii dopadl strasne. V roce 1991 ziskalo relikviar do svého drzeni KSSPPOP Plzen, ktera iniciovala nakonec uspesnou rekonstrukci relikviare, za pomoci odborniku z Nemecka. Byl rozebran na 499 casti a opet slozen.
Od roku 2002 je relikviar svateho Maura vystaven v becovskem zamku. Jeho financní hodnota je samozrejme bezne nevycislitelna a je uvadeno, ze jde o druhou nejcennejsi pamatku v republice, po nasich korunovacnich klenotech. Casto se spekuluje, ze korunovacni klenoty jsou na první místo kladeny s urcitou davkou patriotismu a zahranicni sberatele vidi poradi cennosti techto predmetu ponekud jinak. Tomu také odpovida zabezpeceni teto pamatky.
Hradni komplex je pro svuj spatny stav nepristupny verejnosti. Nejen, ze po staleti slouzil jako sklad a sypka, ale na zacatku 20. stoleti, když se zacinala pouzivat technika, kterou Beauforti parkovali v garazich u hradni konirny, doslo k dalsim skodám. Panstvo potrebovalo rozsirit prujezd po silnici vedouci k hradu, kde prekazel skalni vystupek. Ten byl odstrelen, ale ne prilis povedene. Kus ho tam zustal, ale diky odstrelu se v hlavni nosne zdi hradni veze objevila trhlina. Spatne zachazeni s pamatkami u nas tedy nezacalo az po roce 1948.
Ve sklepich pod hradem a v pivovarskych sklepich je zimoviste chranenych netopyru.
Pod hradem dole smerem do mestecka stoji barokni zamek s kamennym mostem. Byl postaven v mistech hradni basty pod zpustlym hradem v roce 1753. Most vede pres obranny prikop. Okolo zamku byly provedeny zahradni upravy. V zahradach byvalo nekolik bazenu a skleniku. Zamek po roce 1945 slouzil jako ubytovna pro uranove horniky ze slavkovskeho reviru, jako skola, jidelna, odborne uceliste. Nakonec ho prevzala pamatkova pece. Nalezeni relikviare prispelo k rychle rekonstrukci zamku tak, aby bylo vytvoreno dustojne a bezpecne misto pro jeho vystaveni.
Zaverem prejeme uspesny odlov a prijemne chvilky v Becove a nabizime Vam na cele mestecko pohled z ptaci perspektivy ze spolecneho bezmotoroveho letu vetsiny naseho tymu. Pro Honibody neni limitem nic...
There was one cache in Becov before, since spring 2005. So please understand this cache not only as getting familiar with the Becov castle but also as a compliment and thanks to good old caches we learnt from what geocaching is.
A few data from the history:
The castle was built at the beginning of the 14th century as a feoffment castle and served as a watch point over the important intersection at the king’s road between Loket and Pilsen. In writing, the castle is mentioned for the very first time in the year 1314 as the residence of Bores of Osek and Ryzmburk. They colonized that region and the domain from Perstejn to Kynzvart, Zlutice and Ostrov was governed from Becov. A small town was established below the castle having obtained the town privileges. As a result of it, tin and silver was mined at the Becov domain, so the town development was taken care of.
After Hussites took over the castle, the castle ended in a hold of Pluh of Rabstejn. The Pluh’s family was one of the wealthiest families in Bohemia and held positions of the top king’s officials. The Pluh’s family lost its property due to the participation in an uprising against Ferdinand the First. During holding the castle, the Pluh’s family realized its major reconstruction mainly by adding the renaissance Pluh palace.
The castle then was changing hands to its detriment. In 1648, the castle was attacked by the Swedish troops. The castle garrison was taken prisoners and the castle damaged. The damage was remedied over the time but the castle never became the domain residence again and served rather economic purposes. The “last attack” to which the castle was the subject of and resisted happened at the end of the 19th century when the famous architect Zitek was active there and wanted to fully rebuild the castle in the romantic style which would have resulted in a destruction of the most valuable pieces of architecture the castle is known for – its original medieval style. However, no money was available for the realization of such Zitek’s plans.
Since the castle stopped being used as the domain residence quite soon, it was not rebuilt over the time and even its change to the baroque style so popular those days did not occur; the castle preserved its genuine medieval design. Inside the towerish castle structures a number of rooms and chambers are preserved heated with stoves and fireplaces as well as a set of chimneys.
The true gem is a gothic castle shrine 10 x 14 metres in dimensions and 10 meters in height. It is characteristic for its rib-vaulted ceiling with two pins. Unique are the original untouched gothic wall paintings. They capture 17 Bible scenes and Sun, Moon and stars. Such paintings demonstrate a mystic-astrology contents not decoded as yet. All there is preserved since the shrine was used as granary over several hundreds of years. Let’s the personal observer to reveal the event – Island 968: “At the time of my engagement in the castle a protective conservation took place at the castle to the paintings in the shrine. The original medieval method of conservation was used where the paint was made from a mix of egg whites and crushed precious stones. For example, blue paint = “lapis lazuli” was crushed in egg whites.
I remember well that in the right corner of the shire, more distant, a big hole was in the ground. The Prague criminalists happened to discover the unique treasury in 1985, the “Reliquary of St Maur”. It is a richly decorated box with remains of St Maur 140 x 42 x 65 centimetres in dimensions. I spoke with personal observers of such a finding for a number of times. There are books written and movies made about a search for Maur, nevertheless, what reporting games were going on about it and what the reality was is to remain a secret forever”.
Other interesting objects were discovered together with Maur but they likely ended in households of people in power then. What the surety is that the last holders of Becov, the Belgium family of Beaufort – Spontini, were strongly antifascist and so they were forced to defect in 1945 taking only the necessities along. The Reliquary was hidden in the castle shrine where it was getting decayed in a humid soil over 40 years. After its discovery and realizing its tremendous value, the Reliquary was locked in a bank safe where it almost fell apart due to drying and heating. The very first attempt to restore the Reliquary by the state had a bad conclusion. In 1991, the Reliquary was obtained to its hold by KSSPPOP Pilsen having initiated the successful reconstruction of the Reliquary after all with the assistance of experts from Germany. It was sectioned into 499 parts and put together again.
The Reliquary of St Maur is displayed in Becov castle since 2002. Its financial value certainly is commonly countless, and it is stated that this artefact is the second most valuable historical piece in the Czech Republic after the crown jewels. It is often speculated about the crown jewels being put at the first place with a certain degree of patriotism and the foreign collectors see the sequence of valueableness of such objects differently. This is also reflected by this historical piece safekeeping.
The castle site is closed to the public due to its bad condition. Not only that the castle site served as a storage and granary, but at the beginning of the 20th century when the technical machines began being used, they were parked by the Beaufort’s family in garages in the castle horse stables. More damage was caused to the castle site. The nobility needed to expand the passage road to the castle where a stone projection was in the way. So it was blasted away but not too professionally. A piece of it remained there but due to the blast a hole was created to the bearing castle wall. Bad handling the historical monuments in our country then did not start until after the year 1948.
The protected bat winter habitat exists in cellars under the castle and in the brewery cellars.
Below the castle in a direction towards the town, a baroque castle with a stone bridge is built. It was constructed in 1753 under the squalid castle instead of the castle fortification. The bridge runs over a moat. Garden landscaping was realized around the castle. There used to be several pools and glass-houses in the gardens there. After the year 1945, the castle served as a temporary housing facility for uranium miners from Slavkov area, as a school, canteen and special training institution. The Historical Monuments Care finally took over the castle. Finding the Reliquary contributed to an accelerated reconstruction of the castle so that a dignified and safe place for its display was established there.
