Velgartice Castle

Owned by the gentlemen of Velgartz and the gentlemen of Hradec

Velgartice Chateau, originally called Vilgartitz, was founded between 1290 and 1310 by Bohumil from Behdietz, possibly to protect the road from the Šumava region to Bavaria, and also, on the contrary, to plunder merchants passing along this road. The construction of the castle was continued by Bushek I the Elder (d. 1337), the first historically well-known representative of the Velgartz family of lords , whose descendants used the castle as their family residence. Bushek the Elder was a faithful associate of King Karel I of Luxembourg and held the position of a comore in the court. His son Bushek II Junior of Velgartz (d. 1370), also a former member of King Karel I and occupying a high position at the court, probably completed the construction of the castle, which, after his death, was inherited by his son Jan (Yeshek) from Velgartz ^{[2] [3 ] [4] [5]} .

In the early 80s of the XIV century, the castle was captured by the German knight Khertvik Dagenberg von Weissenstein, and together with the castle Dagenberg got one of the daughters of Jan Jan from Velgartz (died in 1387) Anna. In defense of the gentry of Velgartitz, their ally Pan Oldrich I from Rozmberk spoke out . After a lengthy dispute, in 1387, Devil Dagenberg agreed to return the castle and Anna from Velgartz for cash compensation. Shortly thereafter, Pan Yang from Velgartitz died, leaving two heir daughters under the patronage of Oldřich from Rožmberk. In accordance with the testament of Pan Oldřich, who died in 1390, his son Jindrich III of Rožmberk married the daughters of Jan of Velgartz to marry representatives of the Vitkovic family of Hradec : Catherine for Jan the Elder (d. 1417), and Anna for his cousin Menhart of Hradec (d. ca. 1393). In 1396, both parts of the Velgartitsky pansia were united in the possession of Jan the Elder of Hradec, and the castle of Velgartitz became his new residence. According to other sources, until 1428, the Velgartiksky pansy and the castle were jointly owned by the gentlemen from Hradec and the gentlemen from Rožmberk . The pans from Hradec appointed their Burggraphs to control the castle, one of which, Drslav of Jindřichovits, is mentioned in the document of 1419, the other - Jan the eldest of Bešin - in the document of 1433. At the end of the 14th century, a powerful defensive tower, known as “Putna,” and a tall Gothic-style stone bridge connecting the tower with the northern palace were built from the north-west side of the northern palace of the castle ^{[2] [5] [6] [7] [4]} .

During the struggle for power under King Ladislav of Habsburg and after his death, the son of Jan the Elder, the highest burgrave Mengart of Hradec and Velgartitz (died in 1449), who was an active opponent of the party, Mr. Jiří Podebrad and who wanted to prevent his entry to the Czech throne, hid from him in the castle Velgartitsa Czech royal regalia and kept them in it for five years. After the victory, Jiří from Podebrady, Pan Mengart from Hradec, was removed from his post and imprisoned in a dungeon in Podebrady . With the death of his son Oldřich in 1453, the Wielgartist branch of the gentlemen from Hradec was cut short, and the lords of the Švigovskys from Ryzmberk acquired the castle with the priesthood , the first of which, Detolt from Ryzmberk, died in 1474 and was buried in the castle ^{[2] [6] [5 ] ] [7] [4]} .

In the 15th century, the castle’s defense capability was reinforced by fortifications and moats cut into the rock, built on the northeast and southwest sides of the castle. Thus, on the south-west side of the castle, a lower castle courtyard arose, in which various economic buildings were built, including the Pansky brewery ^[2]

Castle in the XVI — XVII centuries

In 1508, thanks to the marriage of the daughter of Vilém Švigovský Katerijna, the castle became the owner Zdenek Lev of Rožmital (d. 1535), who also held the position of the highest burgrave of the Czech kingdom . Zdenek Lev achieved a number of privileges for the Velgartz panscy, in particular, the right to mine precious metals. With him, the castle was ruled by the burgrafe assigned to them. Zdenek Lev left unreasonable debts to his son Adam Lev from Rozmital in inheritance, which is why Adam Leo in 1541 was forced to sell the Velgarty pantry together with the castle of Pan Adam I from Sternberg for 13,500 kopecks of Prague groszy , which already next year panscy and castle gave way to Hetman Jindřich Plansky of Zheberk (d. 1563). After the death of Jindřich, his son Sebastian Yahim Plansky from ебeberka inherited the castle with the friars ’sons, from whose sons Velgartsky panstvo and the castle were bought in 1597 by the knight Václav Smrča of Mnich, who soon resold them to Wolf Gottgard Perglar from Perglas ^{[2] [8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [ 8] [8] [10]} .

During the XVI century, the castle gradually became empty and began to fall into neglect. At the beginning of the Thirty Years War, it became clear that the castle’s defensive systems were not ready for combat. After the Belogorsk battle, the Velgartitsky pansy together with the castle were confiscated by the royal commander from Vaclav Otakar Perglar from Perglas and on November 15, 1628, was sold to the Austrian general Don Martin de Hoeff-Huert. Under Hoeff-Huerte, a large-scale reconstruction of the castle began, and in the eastern part of the upper castle courtyard a new Pansky palace in the late Renaissance style was erected, connecting the northern palace with the southern one (the so-called “Huerto wing”). The new owner abolished serfdom on the territory of the Velgartitsky pansy and pursued a tough re - Catholicization policy against his subjects, driving around his possessions at the head of thirty riders and mercilessly punishing heretics ^{[7] [2] [11] [10]} .

Ban Martin de Hoeff-Huerta from Velgratiц, as he was called by the end of his life, bequeathed all his possessions to his adopted daughter Anne-Maria, who in 1653 sold Velgartz pancate and castle to the minority Convent of the Carmelites , who ceded them to Johanné Frantíška Raccova from Racin. After her death, her son Jiří Václav Račín of Račín, who in 1708 sold them to a knight Ludvik Gineku Behina from Lazhan, Hetman of the Minor Country , inherited the castle and panstvoy ^{[11 ]} .

Castle in the XVIII — XIX centuries

In 1729, Maximilian Yosef Bekhine from Lazhan, who had owned the castle since 1719, sold the Velgartz festivity with the castle to the knight Yosef Karl Perglar from Perglas. The latter so burdened the Velgartitsky pansy with debts that in 1743 it was bought by Count Jan Ferdinand Des-Fours, from whom in 1759 the county and castle was inherited by Count Bedrich Des-Fours ^{[11] [10]} .

In 1825, the Velgartitzky family inherited Countess Frantischka Des-Fours, who was married to a representative of the genus of free gentlemen Sturmfeder from Oppenweiler. Her son and heir Karl Theodor von Shturmfeder was first concerned about the preservation and restoration of the neglected castle Velgartitse and in 1848 began the reconstruction of the dilapidated southern palace of the castle, but did not finish the job ^{[12] [10] [13]} .

Castle in Modern Time

The last private owner of Velgartice Castle was lawyer Joseph Windischgrätz who emigrated to Austria in 1946, after which the castle and its other possessions were nationalized by the Czechoslovak government. During the socialist period, the castle’s area was used by the Czechoslovak Revolutionary trade union movement for recreational purposes. The castle is still in state ownership of the Czech Republic. Since July 1999, the castle has been open to tourists, and in the Renaissance Huer Wing of the castle there is an exposition on the theme Entertainment, Games and Rest Time in the Renaissance ^[4] .

In 2001, the castle was listed as a national cultural monument of the Czech Republic . Today, Velgartice Castle is under the jurisdiction of the National Institute of Monuments of the Czech Republic and is one of the most visited attractions in the Pilsen region (for example, 44,029 tourists visited it in 2014), ranking third among the most visited castles in the region and second only to Rabi castles in this indicator and Kashperk ^{[1] [14]} .

According to currently available data, the castle was originally laid at the southernmost tip of the rocky cliff and consisted of a high circumferential battlement on the site of the present upper courtyard of the castle. Initially, the wall protected wooden or half-timbered buildings, then in the southern and northern parts of the circumferential wall two stone castle palaces were built, interconnected by walls, which formed the core of the castle. The representative northern palace, called the “Paradise court” and which has come down to us in a dilapidated state, is located at the highest point of the castle cliff and has the shape of a Latin letter D in the plan. The outer walls of the palace were made of stone, while all the internal structures were exclusively wooden. So far, thanks to the reconstruction, three floors of the palace have been preserved, the second of which has arcade corridors and a spacious banquet hall, and the third has an open terrace overlooking the eastern slope of the castle hill. From the southwestern part of the palace there was a fortress wall, from which only ruins reached us, protecting the upper castle courtyard from the south-west. An integral part of this wall is an expressive gothic portal that opens the entrance from the lower to the upper courtyard ^{[2] [15]} .

Between the northern and southern palaces, there is currently a third, late -renaissance two-story palace (“Huerto wing”), built in the 17th century by Martin de Hoeff-Huert along the eastern castle wall, originally connecting the two palaces. Thanks to this architectural solution, the medieval eastern fortress wall of the castle became the outer wall of the new palace and is relatively well preserved to this day. In this wall were arranged two rows of stinging windows and a small gothic portal of a secret door, opening access to the shafts and fortifications behind the “Paradise court”. The inner wall of the new palace was built in the form of arcade corridors of two floors, which offer views of the upper courtyard of the castle. The interior of the palace was largely modified according to the ideas and housing needs of the beginning of the 20th century, since it was this building that served the owners of the castle as their home until its nationalization. In the south, the “Huerto wing” passes into the Gothic palace, located on the southernmost tip of the castle cliff ^{[2] [16]} .

The main gate of the castle was built in the north-west of the lower courtyard of the castle, where they are still located, to the right of the gate a small fortress tower was erected for their additional protection, and a ditch was made in front of the gate, through which it was possible to get through the drawbridge. . To protect the castle from the north-west, a large residential tower of the donjon type was erected there, called “Putna”, the wall thickness of which was 2.5 meters. The existing entrance to the tower through the first floor was smashed in the wall only in the XIX century, initially access to the donjon was possible only through a drawbridge at the third floor, which descended onto the massive stone bridge leading to the third floor of the Northern Palace "Paradise". This stone bridge, connecting the donjon put forward with the core of the castle, has a height of almost 10 meters, a length of 32 and a width of 3 meters. The bridge rests on five massive cylindrical columns, forming four Gothic pointed arches in the openings, and is unique in the fortification architecture of the medieval castle architecture of Central Europe ^{[2] [17]} .

The foundation of the former castle distillery has been preserved in the western part of the lower courtyard of the castle, and in the south-west of the lower courtyard there is the restored building of the castle brewery with a two- gable roof in the Gothic style, in which an exhibition hall is arranged in our time. The brewery building, which is incorrect in terms of its design, is visually quite beautifully balanced by the narrow and tall structure of the Gothic southern palace located next to it ^{[2] [15]} .

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