bled castle / blejski grad - website
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7/30/2019 Bled Castle / Blejski grad - website
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About Bled castle
Location and weather
Opening hoursPrice list
History of the castle
Castle buildings
Legend of the castle widow Poliksena
Museum
Castle restaurant
Castle printing works
Castle wine cellar
Herbal gallery
Castle forge
Knights' Hall
Castle chapel
Well
Political visits
Castle weddings
Theatre Group
History of the castle
It has been over a thousand years since on 10 April 1004the German king Henry II
signed a donation deed in Trento, Tyrol, ceding the ownership of the Bled estate in
Carniola to Albuin, Bishop of Brixen, and the Bishopric of Brixen as a sign of gratitudefor the assistance the church offered to the Emperor in his attempts to s trengthen the
German rule in this part of Northern Italy. The charter makes no mention of the castle.
Most likely, only a Romanesque tower stood on a steep white rock at the time. In 1011
Henry II signed another deed of donation to include the castle and the land in the size of
thirty king's farms (i.e. the area between the Sava Bohinjka and the Sava Dolinka).
Upon the first subsequent mention of Bled made in 1011 in another Henry II's donation
deed, the name was explicitly used to refer to the castle on the rock castellum Veldes.
This 1011 charter is proof to the fact that at that time the castle building had already been
erected. After the year 1000, the Bishops of Sabien moved the seat of their South
Tyrolean bishopric between Brenner and Bolzano to Brixen. The deed of donation
referring to the Bled estate was kept in the bishopric archives in Brixen.
The source of the name Bled
Medieval documents refer to Bled with its German name exonym Veldes.
According to Fran Ramov, the Slovenian autonym Bled, first documented in the modern
times, was coined in 800 AD from an older word beld or pelt, which was also the root of
the German Veldes. On the other hand, Valvazor believed that the word Veldes was
derived from Felsen (German for rock), denoting the cliff on which the castle was built. In
terms of written documents, Bled Castle is the oldest castle in Slovenia.
Castle owners and managers through time
The Bishops of Brixen never lived in Bled and would only rarely venture here from
Brixen 300 kilometres away as one would have to ride for six days, using four horses,
through valleys where countless dangers lurked. The Bled estate was managed by
ministerials, castellans and castle staff according to the feudal order. Later, the Bishops of
Brixen decided to lease the property. The first leaseholder was Konrad von Kreigh and
the Kreigh family stayed in the castle for nearly two hundred years. The Kreighs and their
relatives, the Turns, were succeeded as castle owners by baron Herbard Auersperg of
Turjak, who had to leave Bled to fight the Turks. He attempted to buy off the castle for his
family, and undertook the renovations works after the 1511 earthquake. Under Auersperg,
the castle was a Protestant stronghold and in June 1561 it was even visited by the leader
of Slovenian Protestant movement Primo Trubar. Other castle administrators included
Ivan Josip Lenkovi and Count iga Turn. When the leasehold perioed came to an end,
the bishops appointed governors to manage the Bled estate. Up until the 18th century, thecastle was administered by the nobles, and later also by the adherents of the middle
class. Some of them stayed in Bled, while others managed the estate through caretakers.
It was due to the frequent change of its managers that Bled Castle had little valuable
equipment and furniture bearing high historical value. In 1803 the Bled estate was
nationalized. The French occupation of Carniola temporarily transferred the title of the
Bled estate to Napoleon, making it a part of the Illyrian Provinces. In 1838 the Bishops of
Brixen were returned their property. After the feudal order came to an end in 1848, the
Brixen lords were no longer able to sustain the rising costs of the estate and eventually
sold it to an industrialist, the owner of the Jesenice ironworks, Mr Viktor Ruard. From
Ruard, the castle and the entire castle estate passed on to merchant Adolf Muhrin 1882.
The restless history of the castle continued and in 1918 the hotelierIvan Kenda from Bled
bought the castle, the lake and the island with an ambitious plan to turn the castle into a
hotel. Unfortunately, his investments failed and in 1937 his entire property was confiscated
by Zadruna gospodarska banka, which passed it on to Drava Banovina. On 18 August
1947 a fire erupted on the castle, destroying a considerable part of the castle roof.
Looking back, we can only conclude that Bled Castle has had an eventful and lively
history.
Renovations of Bled Castle
1952 marked the beginning of extensive renovations of the castle led by architect Tone
Bitenc, a disciple of Joe Plenik. Castle remake took ten years and was completed in
1961. The renovation works gave the castle a slightly more modern appearance better
suited to tourist visits.
In 2008 the Bled Culture Institute renovated the museum part of the castle.
Bled castle Bled Castle restaurant Museum Castle wine cellar Castle events Weddings at Bled castle Price list Opening hours
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