Lauvenburg castle is a typical medieval castle, surrounded by water and in very good condition. The castle is situated on the outskirts of the village and appears very romantic with its old stock of trees. The moats of the two-part castle are still fed via the medieval mill-race, which was diverted from the Rotbach stream.
The fore-castle was reconstructed in new-gothic style after a fire in 1868. Behind a yard with a walled manure heap, flanked by farm-buildings, the main castle building stands in late-gothic style. The wooden gallery in the inside of the yard and the remains of high fortified walls at the front of the yard bear witness to violence in the past. In 1408 the castle was first recorded, as fiefdom and open-house of the Duke of Jülich, whose feudal vassals used it as a base for their livelihood as robber-barons. Although it was mostly owned by Cologne families, it appeared in 1603 on a list of knights' country seats.
It was reconstructed as a country residence in the 17th century by Privy Councillor Johann Heinrich Cramer von Clauspruch of the Palatinate. In 1760 it was sold to the French Couunt Latour, who was dispossessed by the French Revolution.
The castle has been privately owned until today.
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The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.