Velenje Castle

Velenje Castle is one of the best preserved castles in Slovenia. It was first mentioned in 1270. Today it has the form of a typical military residential fortress. Over the centuries, the castle was extended and rebuilt, and in the 16th century it acquired its present Renaissance appearance. The mighty Rondel in the south-eastern part of the castle is entirely Renaissance. Its style and period are defined by the Renaissance windows on the first floor, the accentuated stone barrel wreath, the characteristically shaped resin spouts and the typical rectangular lines or lancets. The windows on the courtyard side of the south wing of the palace have the same shape as those on the roundel. The portal in the entrance tower also has the typical profile of the Renaissance windows. Although the architectural appearance of the castle has been completely preserved, with the exception of the drawbridge, which was removed in the mid-19th century, unfortunately almost nothing of the interior decoration has survived.

The first owners of the castle were the Kunšperk family, who were succeeded in the 14th century by their relatives, the Ptujskis, after which the castle changed hands several times. In the second half of the 15th century, the castle was inhabited by the Lichtenbergs, and in the 16th century it passed by marriage to the Wagen zu Wagensberg family. Both families were involved in Lutheran activities in the Šaleška valley. During the time of the Wagen family, the castle also underwent major reconstructions, which resulted in its present appearance as a Renaissance castle with a round tower. The memory of the Counts of Wagne is represented by a flag in the castle courtyard. The Sauer family completed the reconstruction. After them, the castle was owned by members of the lower official nobility, briefly by the de la Fontaine dHarnoncourt-Unverzagt family in the mid-19th century, and then by the Adamovich de Csepin family. Karel I. Adamovich de Csepin, a regional deputy, and his wife Bianca were well-known benefactors of Velenje, and the well-known Vila Bianca, as the manor house built in the mid-19th century in today’s Old Velenje, was named after Bianca. The family name is represented by the coat of arms embedded in the southern wall of the palace in the castle courtyard. In 1918 the family sold the castle to their relatives, the Italian noble family Coronini-Cromberg from Gorizia, who were the last owners of the castle.

The history of the castle’s construction is known in outline. The original castle had the shape of an irregular fortress with a small tower in the north-west corner, and probably soon afterwards, if not at the same time, a narrow palace was built along the southern part of the design. The castle was built in this form in the mid-13th century, and the following periods are characterised by the gradual development of the available spaces within the walled enclosure. The most important interventions from this period are the construction of a strong round tower in the south-western corner of the complex, which dates from the late Gothic period, and the construction of the walls after the mid-14th century, to which defensive columns were later added. During the Renaissance period, which is dated 1558 on the entrance door, the castle took on its present appearance. On the eastern side, a new wing was added from the outside, enclosing also the northern part of the original design; part of the northern wall of the castle was demolished and the new wing created a staircase from which the interior of the castle could be accessed. In the core of the castle, the cellars in the west wing were vaulted, the courtyard was provided with arcades and the late Gothic outer wall was fortified with two turrets and a mighty round tower, which still retains its defensive system in the cantilevered attic, defined by a series of gun ports and resin spouts.