Velhartice Castle

Velhartice Castle
	bridge
Creation time :	14th Century
Place:	Velhartice
Geographical location	49 ° 15 '58.6 " N , 13 ° 23' 28.5" E Coordinates: 49 ° 15 '58.6 " N , 13 ° 23' 28.5" E

The Velhartice Castle (German Welhartitz ) is located east of the village Velhartice on a rock spur above the Ostružná in Okres Klatovy , Czech Republic .

history

The castle was built in the 14th century by Count Bohumil von Budětice , enlarged by Bušek the elder and his son Bušek the younger ; the Lords of Welhartitz were chamberlains of King Charles IV. In the 15th century, the noble von Neuhaus family inherited the castle; Meinhard von Neuhaus had it expanded into a fortress after the Hussite Wars and temporarily kept the Bohemian imperial regalia there.

In 1597 Wolf Gotthard Pergler von Perglas bought the rule. As a Protestant, his son lost his possessions after the Battle of White Mountain . Then the castle came to Baltasar von Marradas , who sold it to the Spanish colonel Martin de Hoeff Huerta in 1628 . He had part of the defenses in the upper courtyard demolished and replaced as a residence for himself by a two-story palace in Renaissance style with arcades. Because of the forced recatholicization , the new owner was unpopular with his subjects, and there are numerous legends about him, for example about a hidden treasure. However, one was never found.

After Huerta's death, the owners changed frequently and parts of the complex fell into ruin. The lawyer Josef Windisch-Grätz lived in the Huerta Castle until 1946 as the last private owner . After the expropriation, the complex was used for changing public purposes.

After thorough restoration work, the castle is now open to the public again and can be viewed on guided tours.

Castle complex

Ensemble "Butte" (left) - bridge - "Paradies-Haus" (right)

The oldest part of the castle is the southern Gothic palace , which dates back to Bohumil von Budětice. In the 19th century, its structure was so damaged that parts of the building collapsed and had to be replaced.

Under father and son Bušek, the palace Rajský dům (Paradise House) and the tower built in the style of a donjon (later called Putna - Butte - after its shape ) were built in the 14th century , which had both a residential and defensive character. Both parts of the castle are connected by a stone bridge with large arcades, which is 10 m high and 32 m long and unique in this dimension in European castle construction.

Of the Neuhaus defenses from the 15th century, the gatekeeper's room (today the entrance ticket office and souvenir shop), bulwarks, walls and entrenchments with loopholes in the lower courtyard are still standing.

The farm buildings in the lower courtyard also date from the 15th century. Only the brewery is preserved, a double-gabled building over vaulted cellars. Only the foundation walls of a schnapps distillery remain.

Huerta castle wing

The Huerta castle wing is now a museum. The original interior is lost because the last private owner took it to Austria when it was expropriated in 1946. The museum, which is only accessible with a guided tour, shows a characteristic reconstructed facility from the 17th century, essentially consisting of

Family salon with French or Belgian tapestries , clavichord and tiled stove,
Bedroom with four-poster bed and jewelry cupboard,
Nanny's chamber with cradle, toys and bed,
Dining room with pewter dishes, glass and porcelain, chest with bible, large tiled stove, shawm for entertainment at the table,
Games room with chess, checkers and mill; massive turned cabinets,
Knight's hall with numerous musical instruments (shawm, fiddle , lute, harp), chests with pewter dishes, tiled stove with plastic decoration as well
Hunting salon with hunting trophies, pictures with hunting scenes and horn. A coat of arms bears the former German name Gut Welhartitz .

Surroundings

The castle is located at an altitude of 615 m in the Bohemian Forest foreland. The castle's viewing terrace behind the south palace and the bridge offer views of the forests of this hill country.

gallery

Web links

Commons : Velhartice Castle - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

National Monument Office in Pilsen: State Castle Velhartice (Czech, German, English)
Description in German
Virtual tour