Vranov nad Dyjí Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vranov nad Dyjí castle
Zámek Vranov nad Dyjí - pohledy z města 01.JPG

The castle Vranov nad Dyjí (German: Frain ) belongs to the municipality Vranov nad Dyjí in Okres Znojmo in Moravia ( Czech Republic ). It is located on the Thaya , 18 km west of Znojmo in the Vöttau hill country.

history

Vranov Castle stands on the site of a sovereign castle that served as national defense against Austria . It was built by Duke Břetislav I and was first mentioned in the Chronica Boemorum around 1100 .

The castle and the rule of Vranov had been in the possession of Heinrich von Leipa since 1323 and passed to the lords of Lichtenburg , who also owned the neighboring castles of Vöttau and Zornstein . Since the beginning of the 16th century it was owned by Ar Kleb von Boskowitz , Johann von Pernstein , Sidonius von Lomnitz, Wolf Kraiger von Kraigk and the Lords von Dietrichstein .

In 1614 the castle and rule of Frain were acquired by Wolf Dietrich von Althann , whose possessions were confiscated by the emperor because of his participation in the uprising after the battle of the White Mountain . From 1629 they belonged to Johann Ernst von Scherfenberg and after 1665 to Count Starhemberg . Among them, Frain Castle was structurally changed again.

In 1680 the imperial count Michael Johann von Althann acquired the castle and lordship of Frain. He arranged for the castle to be converted into a stately baroque palace based on plans by the Viennese court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach . They were realized in 1687–1695. The result is the ancestral hall with an oval floor plan and a dome. The sculptor Tobias Kracker created the statues of important old Tanners for the wall niches , the frescoes Johann Michael Rottmayr . The palace chapel of the Holy Trinity was built between 1699–1700 and contains the crypt of the Althann family. The paintings in the chapel were created by Ignaz Heinitz von Heinzenthal. Althann's daughter-in-law Maria Anna, b. Pignatelli, initiated the construction of the three-winged palace building after 1722, the design of which was probably made by the court architect Anton Erhard Martinelli . During her reign, two groups of statues were erected in the courtyard, presumably by Lorenzo Mattieli. They are said to be a gift from Emperor Charles VI. be.

The castle chapel
portal

Michael Josef von Althann, who had owned the Frain rule since 1774, initiated further modifications to the palace. The castle was decorated with high-quality stucco, the walls with precious wallpaper and paintings. A terrace was designed in front of the ancestral hall and decorated with triumphal arches in which busts of Socrates and Pallas Athene were placed. With these renovations, Michael Josef von Althann got so much into debt that his possessions went bankrupt in 1793. The Prague lawyer Johann Hilgartner von Lilienborn acquired the castle and manor of Frain from the bankruptcy estate. He initiated the construction of a palace park with artificial grottos, statues and watercourses. The horse stables and carriage houses in front of the castle entrance can also be traced back to him.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Polish aristocrat Stanisław Mniszek acquired the estate. He initiated changes to the palace facade in the neo-Gothic style and artistically valuable wall paintings in the western wing of the palace. A castle library was founded among the Mnisiank and their related Stadnicki, who had owned the castle since 1876, and theater and music were promoted and performed in the castle.

During the time of the Protectorate , Adam Stadnicky's palace and manor were confiscated and sold to the German Baron Gebhard von der Wense-Mörse. It was expropriated after the end of the Second World War and the castle became state property. In the 1970s, the castle was extensively renovated.

In addition to the ancestral hall and the palace chapel, other rooms can be visited, the interior furnishings of which date from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are also exhibits from the Frainer ceramics factory.

In 1993 the castle was used as a location for the film The Emperor's New Clothes with Harald Juhnke . The action thriller Triple X with Vin Diesel was also filmed largely at Vranov Castle.

literature

  • Joachim Bahlcke , Winfried Eberhard, Miloslav Polívka (eds.): Handbook of historical places . Volume: Bohemia and Moravia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 329). Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-32901-8 , pp. 142-143.
  • Karel Janíček, Jiří Paukert: Frain an der Thaya State Castle , 1989
  • Castles, monasteries and chateaus Waldviertel, Danube region, South Bohemia, Vysočina, South Moravia ISBN 978-3-9502262-2-5 , p. 112 f
  • Jiří Kacetl, Petr Lazárek, David Molík: Hrady a zámky moravsko-rakouského Podyjí slovem / Castles of the Austro-Moravian Thaya Valley in words. South Moravian Museum in Znojmo in cooperation with the Retz City Museum, Znojmo 2013, ISBN 978-80-86974-12-5 , pp. 53–57 ( PDF on muzeumznojmo.cz; German and Czech).

Web links

Commons : Vranov nad Dyjí castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 53 ′ 35.8 "  N , 15 ° 48 ′ 45.7"  E