Betliar Castle
| Betliar Castle | ||
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 Front view of the Betliar Castle |
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| Data | ||
| place | Betliar | |
| Construction year | 1702 to 1712 | |
| Coordinates | 48 ° 42 '22 " N , 20 ° 30' 37" E | |
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The Betliar Castle (German also lock Betler , Slovak Betliarsky kaštieľ ) is a castle in the village Betliar , below the mountain Volovské vrchy on the right bank of the creek creek Betliarsky , in the Slaná flows, just North of the town of Rožňava (German Rosenau ) located.
history
Today's palace complex adjoins a late medieval moated castle that was built in the 1440s by order of the Bebek family . It was a small fortress that served as a bailey to the Krásna Hôrka Castle . At the end of the 15th century, three towers were built on the NE, SE and SW sides. During the Turkish wars , the complex was further fortified and it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. After the Bebeks had to leave Gemer County because of infidelity to the emperor in 1556, the complex became part of the Krásna Hôrka castle. In 1578 Peter I. Andrássy became castellan of the castle: thus the almost 370-year presence of Andrássy in the Gemer region began.
But it was not until the beginning of the 18th century that the function changed to a representative building, when it was converted between 1702 and 1712 during Count Stephan Andrássy's lifetime. A single-storey, four-tower, still fortified castle was created. In the years from 1783 to 1795, the castle was expanded in the classical style , including part of the second floor and the rotunda . At the same time, the English park, a work by the Lübeck garden architect Christian Heinrich Nebbien , was gradually built . When the Andrássy family rose in public life in the Kingdom of Hungary and held high political offices, especially after the Compromise of 1867 , the castle was rebuilt in the years from 1880 to 1886 in such a way that the result was a representative French hunting castle in the historicizing style. The renovation focused on lounges and guest rooms, and today's entrance hall with a wooden coffered ceiling was also built .
When the last members of the Andrássy family left their estates in 1944, the castle was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state by means of Beneš decrees (more precisely decree no. 108/1945) . A museum has been housed in the castle since 1953, which focuses in particular on the living culture of the nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries. Betliar Castle has been a national cultural monument of Slovakia since 1985.
Today the museum is part of the network of the Slovak National Museum .
Interior
Inside you can see valuable furniture in various styles from Renaissance to Art Nouveau, historical rifles, hunting trophies, collections of paintings by Hungarian and European painters, as well as collections of ceramics, glassware and clocks. The library comprises around 20,000 volumes, and there are also historical manuscripts and printed works, the oldest copies date from the 15th century. Collectibles from Africa and Asia are reminiscent of Count Manó Andrássy 's travels .
park
The castle park is 81 hectares and is one of the best preserved historical parks in Slovakia. There you can see stone sculptures, fountains, fish ponds, a system of artificially created rivers and plants from all over the world. The rotunda originally housed the library.
literature
- Ernst Hochberger: The big book of Slovakia . 4th edition. Sinn, 2003, ISBN 3-921888-10-7 , pp. 77 (keyword Betler (Betliar) ).
- Ján Lacika: Kaštiele (= Kultúrne Krásy Slovenska ). 1st edition. Dajama, 2008, ISBN 978-80-89226-60-3 , pp. 54-61 (Slovak).
Web links
- Main page of the museum (Slovak)
- Betliar Castle on zamky.sk (Slovak)
- Brief description on the website of the municipality of Betliar (Slovak)