Imagine Inheriting a Castle...

Try to imagine what it would be like to get a official phone call or letter stating that a castle that had been in your family 60+ years ago was now your responsibility! This is what has happened in Slovenia. In the mid 1940s, after the WWII, Slovenia was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During this period private property was nationalized, and castles, among other things belonged to the state, to the people, instead of to individuals or individual families. The Federation began to fracture in the late 1980s and Slovenia became an independent country in 1991. One of the results of this is that some property has been returned to the original owners, or their successors.

We saw evidence of this with a visit to Krumperk, which now has a chain strung across the entrance to the grounds with a “private” sign on it.

With crumbling stone walls and peeling plaster, I think there is a lot of work ahead, and it will be interesting to see what happens to this place as time progresses.
Some castles like Mali Grad (Little Castle) in Kamnik have portions restored.


At the summit, on the eastern side of the ruins is a Romanesque chapel and crypt, parts of which date back to the 11th century.
This is one of the country’s oldest surviving ecclesiastical monuments. From the balcony are fabulous views of the alps.


The Jablje Castle stands above the source of a stream at the edge of a rocky slope. It is believed to have been erected in 1530, although the first written references to it date back to 1268. It features a Middle Age design. After the occupants moved out in 1997, reconstructionin 1999, the an ordinance was passed that made the castle a national cultural monument.



The fourth castle of my weekend involved a trip to eastern Slovenia to Ptuj. Ptuj is the oldest continuously settled area in Slovenia. Artifacts establish the area as far back as the Stone Age. Ptuj’s important geographical location saw the area involved several times in historical events of European importance. In the late Iron Age the area was settled by the Celts, and by beginning of the last century BC, the area began to fall under roman economic and political influences. Occupied successively by the Avars, Magyars and the Slavs Ptuj received town righte in 977 AD, at which point it passed into the hands of the Slazburg archdiocese. Ptuj survived incursions by the Turks, and wars with the Hungarians to be the small provincial town it is today. The Ptuj Castle began life around 69 AD.
We accessed it via the narrow street Grajska Ulica, and entered the lower courtyard, where there is a one armed sculpture of St Florian dousing a fire.

From here one can view the city below, and the Drava River and Plain. Walking thru the Peruzzi portal we stepped into a beautifully maintained inner courtyard enclosed by a horseshoe shaped, three storied residential palace.


This houses the Regional Museum Ptuj which boasts an incredible collection of archaeology, history, cultural history and ethnology. Before entering the museum I stopped to admire the red Salzburg marble tombstone of Fredrick IX, the last lord of Ptuj. Also of interest was the grape vine growning outside, which is a graft of the oldest grape variety in the world, from Maribor, (26km from Ptuj)



Dating from the 17th century the art of Cipka Lace in Slovenia is in the use of a special lace-making technique and, most of all, in its original patterns. These have been given domestic names and are clearly distinguishable from other famous European styles.