Děčín Castle

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View of the castle over the Elbe

The Děčín Castle ( German  Tetschen Castle ) is located on a rock near the Elbe in the urban area of Děčín ( Tetschen ) in the Czech Republic .

history

The castle dates back to a fortification built by the Přemyslids at the end of the 10th century (mentioned in 1128) to control navigation on the Elbe. In the 13th century, the wooden structure was converted into a stone castle and expanded. The Bünaus rebuilt the complex into a Renaissance castle in the 16th century , but had to sell it to the von Thun family after the Thirty Years' War because of their Protestant beliefs . The von Thuns used the castle until 1932, when they sold it to the state for financial reasons and moved to Jílové (Eulau).

From 1934, Czech border troops used the property as barracks. In the Second World War it served the German Wehrmacht , after the end of the war the Czech army moved again and after the Prague Spring (1968) the Soviet army moved in here and operated a. a. a hospital. Due to the long military use, the building fabric was badly damaged, so after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops almost no window was intact. For example, the former library served as a sports hall and nothing of the former interior was left.

After the withdrawal of the Soviet troops in 1991, the castle became the property of the town of Děčín. Since then, extensive renovation measures have been carried out, including renewing the roof and repairing the facade. Parts of the castle can already be visited again. In one part of the castle, a local disabled facility operates an inclusion cafe. A special feature is the long journey ("Dlouha jizda"), the 292 m long access to the castle that is surrounded by walls on both sides. The walls get lower and lower towards the castle, so that the corridor looks even longer due to a similar optical illusion as in the Potemkin staircase in Odessa.

The rose garden was laid out next to the Lange Fahrt in 1670, but roses have only been grown there since 1881. The park serves as a venue for concerts in summer.

The castle can be visited for an admission fee. In 2018 there were around 63,000 visitors, a quarter of whom came from Germany.

Frédéric Chopin

The most famous visitor to the castle was the composer Frédéric Chopin , who was a guest there for five days from September 13, 1835. A lasting memory of his stay is the waltz in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1, known as the "Tetschner Waltz", which Chopin played here for the first time and which was dedicated to the young Countess Josephine von Thun-Hohenstein on September 15 wrote in their studbook. She was the sister of the diplomat Friedrich von Thun and Hohenstein , with whom Chopin traveled on to Dresden on September 18 .

See also

Picture gallery

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Change to Schloss Decin , Sächsische Zeitung (Dippoldiswalde edition) from June 28, 2019
  2. ↑ See Jaroslav Procháska, Chopin and Böhmen , Prague 1968

literature

Web links

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

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 47.4 "  N , 14 ° 12 ′ 37.7"  E