The series of the Czech Mint entitled Tales of Czech castles is full of myths, mysteries and fairy tales. The second pure silver commemorative medal recalls the legend of the Hell Gate at Houska Castle.

Castles have always been built in places of strategic importance. They protected borders from conquerors and trade routes from raiders. However, Houska, one of the oldest preserved castles in Bohemia, was built in the middle of nowhere - in a deserted landscape near Lake Mácha. The castle had no kitchen and not even a water source. It didn't have to resist outside invaders because there was no reason for anyone to try to get in. A possible reason for its creation is suggested by old chronicles, which say that the walls had the opposite purpose. They guarded something inside the castle - something that was not supposed to get out... The legend says, the Caterpillar was built on a rock torn by a fissure, from which a foul smell of sulphur emanated. And that was not the only thing that came up from the depths of the earth. People swore they saw winged demons flying out of the fissure. King Otakar II of Bohemia, who founded the castle, was said to have offered pardon to convicts who let themselves fall into the pit, but he learned nothing useful from them, because they went mad and their hair turned white with terror. The pious people believed that they had found the gate to hell and decided to close it, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not fill the bottomless pit. Out of desperation, they covered it with a stone slab and built a chapel over it dedicated to the archangel Michael - the warrior against the forces of evil, the only one who can defeat the devil... As the centuries passed, people forgot where the pit of hell lay. But darkness has continued to seep into our world. A terrible black monk without a face began to walk through the castle. After the end of the Thirty Years' War, its mystery attracted the marauding Swedish commander Orontes, who came here in search of immortality. Later on, the mystical power of the mysterious place bewitched the writer Karel Hynek Mácha or members of the SS who studied occult literature and performed black magic rituals here...

The obverse side of the commemorative medal, which is the work of academic sculptor Majka Wichnerová, presents a hell gate surrounded by various demons and phantoms. The reverse side is dominated by Houska Castle in the Kokořín forests.

The Collector's series will present six castle stories.