The city was built on three sandstone cliffs in the second half of the thirteenth century by Counts of the Waldstein family. After 1420 the castle was occupied by the Hussites, then later by the Robber Barons. In 1621 the abandoned castle was bought back by the Waldsteins, whose most illustrious member was Albrecht von Wallenstein. During the peak of the Baroque period, they built a pilgrimage church of John of Nepomuk, built in 1722 on ruins of the castle.