The Bucellini–Ruard Manor, commonly referred to as the Ruard Manor ( sl, Ruardova graščina), is a 16th-century manor house located in the Sava neighbourhood of the town of Jesenice in northwestern Slovenia, at the street address of ''45 France Prešeren Street'' (). It is one of four so-called "ironworks castles" built in the area during the 16th and early 17th centuries by the owners of iron-mining and -processing facilities, in what were then the clustered settlements of Plavž, Sava, Murova and Javornik, amalgamated into the town of Jesenice in 1929. The

Kos Manor The Kos Manor ( sl, Kosova graščina) is a 16th-century manor house located in the Murova neighborhood of the town of Jesenice, Slovenia, at the street address of ''Cesta maršala Tita 64''. It is one of four so-called "ironworks castles" built i ...

in Murova also survives; the Plavž and Javornik manors were demolished. The Ruard Manor was built in 1538 by the Italian businessman Bernardo Bucellini, who had recently relocated to Sava from

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

and whose family would come to dominate the iron mining and processing industry of the entire

upper Sava valley The Upper Sava Valley ( sl, Zgornjesavska dolina) is an alpine valley in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. The Sava Dolinka River flows along it. It begins in Rateče at an elevation of 870 m and ends at Moste at 560 m. It is the geographic ...

. Unlike the Kos manor, Bucelenni chose to locate this residence close to the ironworks themselves. The Bucellinis were very successful for a time, and were ennobled during the 17th century, taking the name "von Reichenberg" after the German name of their ore mines at Savske Jame. In 1686 the family was elevated to counthoood. The manor gained the second half of its current name in 1766, when Valentin Ruard, a Belgian entrepreneur, bought the entire estate and restored the failing ironworks surrounding it. Leopold Ruard, his son, was mayor of Jesenice under the brief period of French rule. In 1831, the manor was expanded and reconstructed in the Neoclassical style. In the next generation, it passed out of Ruard hands, as Viktor Ruard was unable to obtain capital for the modernization of the family ironworks, and was forced to sell both them and the manor to the

KID Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to: Common meanings * Colloquial term for a child or other young person ** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age * Engage in joking * Young goats * The goat meat of young goats * Kidskin, leath ...

company in 1871, which converted it into clerks' housing (much like the nearby Workers' Barracks). Since 1954, the manor has served as a museum, and later became the seat of the Upper Sava Museum. It hosts several permanent exhibits: *Historical museum of the iron and steel industry in the Jesenice region, featuring tools, artifacts and motorized maquettes of industrial facilities * Paleontological collection of the

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...

flora and fauna of the western Karawanks * Mineral collectionStara Sava tourist guide, from the Jesenice municipal web site
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References

{{Castles in Slovenia Houses completed in 1538 Manors in Slovenia History museums in Slovenia Jesenice, Jesenice 1538 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire