Deep in the southern suburbs of Prague – an area now dominated by highways and housing estates – this thirteenth-century gothic fortress is an unexpected witness to a much older history, dating from the time when Chodov was little more than a collection of farms.

At one time the property of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the unusual round building was constructed in the late 1200s. Later it became a private residence, modified by successive owners, including Francois Rousseau of Happencourt, who had the exterior restyled in its current baroque form when he took over the property in 1812.

The circular floorplan has been preserved, as has the original gothic doorway in the western wall. A footbridge indicates the location of the original drawbridge, passing over what was once a much more impressive moat.

Published by the Prague Vitruvius.