A monolithic phonolite rock towers majestically above the Elbe to a height of a hundred metres. Enthroned upon it is Střekov Castle (in German “Schreckenstein”). The Střekov rock owes its fame primarily to the painting Crossing the Elbe at the Schreckenstein by Ludwig Richter, now in the Albertinum in Dresden. The earliest sources on Střekov date from 1319, when Pesek of Střekov received the castle as a fief. In the early sixteenth century it changed hands several times, being acquired by Václav Popel z Lobkovicz (German:Wenzel Popel von Lobkowitz) in 1563. Around 1570, the castle was again altered and enlarged. Travellers began to visit the picturesque castle in the nineteenth century. Famous painters such as Ludwig Richter and Caspar David Friedrich stayed there. In 1842 the composer Richard Wagner visited Střekov and drew inspiration from it for his opera Tannhäuser. Large sections of the castle have survived in the original to this day; other parts, such as the keep, the great hall and the castle walls, have been reconstructed.