Bučovice Castle

Bučovice Castle, garden facade

Bučovice Castle, arcaded courtyard

The Bučovice Castle (German: Butschowitz) is located in South Moravia , in the town of Bučovice .

history

The valuable architecture in the style of the Renaissance ( Mannerism ) is a testament to the taste of Jan Šember von Boskovic, the founder, builder and artist Jacopo Strada . It was designed between 1575–1585 by the Brno architect of Italian origin Pietro Gabri . In contrast to other castles, it was not built on the foundations of a former castle, but is in the open country, after the typical Italian palazzo in Fortezza .

The palace is formed by three wings of equal width around a rectangular inner courtyard. The fourth wing consists only of a blind wall with an arcade wall in front of it. A multi-storey system of external walkways that is known to every Austrian and Moravian in a simple, timeless form under the name of Pawlatsche . The doctrine of the Orders of requests that the ionic to the Doric , and Corinthian on the Ionic column is to be set. This is deliberately not adhered to here, the heavy-looking Doric capitals have been omitted, Ionic capitals can be found on the ground floor, and Corinthian capitals above. Together with the slender columns, the architect succeeded in making the renaissance-typical arcades appear light.

In 1635, Prince Maximilian von Liechtenstein commissioned the construction of a monumental Bacchus fountain in the arcade courtyard of his palace . Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla drew the plan that the Viennese court sculptor Pietro Maino Maderno executed in Zogelsdorfer Stein , then called Eggenburger Stein. Above the basin that was no longer preserved, the artist tied winged mermaids seated on dolphins to the shaft of a column and arched small basins above them in the heads of the dragon monsters that curled like a volute. At the top is a curved shell-like bowl with mascarons and the figure of a bacchante. A work of an excellent standard.

Bučovice Castle: Bacchus Fountain by Pietro Maino Maderno

Pietro had learned the craft from master Antonius Tencalla in the Imperial Quarry on Leithaberg . At that time the quarries of Kaisersteinbruch were the center of Italian-Swiss stonemasons and sculptors near Vienna.

On June 22, 1645, the castle withstood the attack by the outnumbered Swedes while the city was sacked. In 1681 the Liechtensteiners left the castle. From 1720 the Liechtenstein administration was housed in the castle.

Attractions

The imperial rooms and the bird room, which are unique in this version in Bohemia and Moravia, are worth seeing . In the vaults of the imperial rooms, which are painted with grotesque décor, there are fully plastic and partially gilded equestrian figures made of stucco of Diana , Mars and Europe as well as Emperor Charles V.

• Interiors of the Bučovice chateau (selection)
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Web links

• Homepage (Czech / English)

swell

1. ↑ Bučovice Castle “In the footsteps of the Liechtensteiners in South Moravia and Lower Austria”.

Coordinates: 49 ° 8 '57.2 "  N , 17 ° 0' 4.6"  E