Anyone considering Gießhübel B. Buchau for its cultural history or a cycling tour will find a range of points of interest: Kysibl Castle represents several phases of construction, while two cycling routes pass through the administrative area of the municipality of Stružná. There are also individual monuments with their own dates, as well as designated natural and landscape features. For planning purposes, it is worth considering these topics separately: the cycling routes can be distinguished by the places they pass through, while each historic site tells a different part of the area’s history.
Kysibl Castle: Phases of Construction and Heritage Protection
Kysibl Castle in Stružná was built before 1598. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was expanded into a spacious three-winged Baroque building; in 1876–1877, it was converted into a Neo-Renaissance-style palace. Its construction history can therefore be divided into its original construction, Baroque expansion and later conversion, rather than assigning the building to just one period. The castle has been protected as a monument since 3 May 1958. This date provides a separate reference point alongside the construction phases: it relates to its protected status, not to when it was built.
Other Monuments in the Municipality
At the cemetery northwest of Stružná, the Chapel of St. Joseph, with an adjoining mortuary, was built in 1926. Its date and stated function make it a clearly defined part of the area’s history. The Late Baroque sandstone statue of St. John of Nepomuk is a different type of monument: it was fully restored in 2018 and is freely accessible. If you plan to visit the statue, check access again before your trip.
The iron cross near Stružná also connects an earlier period with a more recent one. It was erected in 1874 on the site of an older cross in an avenue about 550 metres southeast of the municipality. Between 2017 and 2020, a new cast-iron cross was installed on the plinth, which had previously been relocated. The two dates distinguish the original erection from the later installation of a new cross. A further, much older period is represented by the Gothic water castle, which probably stood in the second half of the 14th century in the area of the pond on the slope in the eastern part of Stružná. Its dating is explicitly tentative.
Cycling Routes and Regional Connections
Cycling Route 2249 runs through the administrative area of Stružná along the route Šemnice – Dubina – Vojenský újezd Hradiště – Žalmanov – Horní Tašovice – Luka – Valeč. Cycling Route 2288A runs from Horní Tašovice rozcestí via Tašovický mlýn to Dlouhá Lomnice. The sequences of place names make it easier to tell the two routes apart. Compare them before your tour and check the route before setting out by bike. For regional connections, the important I/6 road passes through the administrative area, linking Karlovy Vary with Prague. It is advisable to check current traffic conditions before travelling.
Natural and Landscape Features
The Natura 2000 site Doupovské hory, a site of Community importance with the code CZ0424125, lies within the municipality. The Činovské louky are also registered as a significant landscape feature in the cadastral area of Stružná; the plots concerned are 254/1, 281 and 688/1. These names refer to different landscape features: a Natura 2000 site and a registered landscape feature. If you are interested in nature and landscape conservation, you can take these distinctions into account when learning about the municipality.
Discover more destinations: Bergstadt Platten, Pechöfen, Schneidmühl, Theusing, Gießhübl-Sauerbrunn, Engelhaus, Waltsch, Welchau.
For the regional travel overview: Karlovy Vary District.
