Škrljevo Castle ( Slovenian: ''Grad Škrljevo''

german German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Grailach'') is a castle in

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

, in what became the municipality of

Šentrupert Šentrupert (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 84.) is a village in the traditional Lower Carniola region in southeastern Slovenia. ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

History

The first surviving mention of the castle dates to 1043. Valvasor attributed the castle’s founding to St. Hemma. The Jesuit Bautscher, a contemporary of Valvasor, left a message in Latin, which placed St. Hemma'','' among other goods, also brought the Grailach rule into the marriage: ''" ..dotem attulit comitatum Peilnstein, castra Vizel, Landsberg, Weitenstein, Andernacum, Nassenfues, Grailach, Erkhenstein, ac alia praedia in Carniola sita .. "'' According to Hemma's donation (1043), these goods belonged to the Benedictine monastery she founded on the Gurk in Carinthia until 1072 and then to the Gurk diocese, which the Grailach lordship gave it as a 17th century fief. In the 1043 document, it was mentioned as Chrilouva. As an estate, Škrljevo was first mentioned in 1130 as the ''predium Chrilowe''. From 1072 until the 17th century, the castle hosted the head of the Krka diocese. The castle was originally built as a towering court. Its estate was later granted to Count William II, Breže-Selško, and after his death his wife

Hemma of Gurk Hemma of Gurk (; 27 June 1045),29 June according t also called Emma of Gurk (), was a noblewoman and founder of several churches and monasteries in the Duchy of Carinthia. Buried at Gurk Cathedral since 1174, she was beatified on 21 November 12 ...

donated the property to the Krško diocese. The court was first written about indirectly in 1163, when a document mentions the knight of Škrljevo and the minister of Aquileia, Majnhard Škrljevski (''purchrauiis'' Megnardo de Crilog). The direct connection with Hemma of Gurk, whom Valvasor claimed owned the castle in the 10th century, remains unexplored. In 1541, Škrljevo Castle came into the possession of the Auerspergs and in 1585 a document appeared which named Janez Baltazar Wernegk as the owner.

Design

The castle is Romanesque in its core, It was extended in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and became a fortified mansion. Later in the Gothic period it was partially rebuilt. In the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

period —a façade was added, which is still visible today.

Owners

No information about the owners of the castle and the Grailach rule was known until the middle of the 16th century. The earliest known rulers were brothers Adam and Sigismund von Auersperg, mentioned in 1541. They were followed by Johann Balthasar von Werneck in 1585, and then by Rudolph Count Barbo von Wachsenstein until 1613, succeeded briefly by Ruess von Ruessenstein. Martin Khaysell became the owner from 1613 to 1705, followed by the Barons von Langenmantel until 1785. Ownership then passed to the Barons von Pittoni (1785–1799), the Schuller family (1799–1834), and Karl Vasič (1834–1885), who managed the estate for the Auersperg family, before it passed to Podobnik in 1885.

Tumulus

In the forest west of Škrljevo Castle,

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

from the Early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

with diameters of 15 m and 12 m and heights of 2 m and 1.5 m were discovered. A smaller burial is visible to the northwest of the smaller mound. Both were excavated in 1905 by J. Pečnik.

References

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