Castles can be
scary and/or awe-inspiring. Caves can be scary and/or awe-inspiring. So, what
do you suppose you get when you combine the two? You get the Predjama Castle of
Slovenia.
Predjama Castle
is a renaissance-style castle built with a cave mouth in South-central
Slovenia, an area historically known as Inner Carniola.
About 1274, the
Patriarch of Aquileia built the first castle at this location, using the Gothic
style. At that time, it was known by the German name of Luegg Castle. It was
made difficult to access by building it under a natural rocky arch set high in
the stone wall below the cave. It was later acquired and expanded by the Luegg
noble family, also known as the Knights of Adelsberg.
Sir Erasmus of
Lueg became lord of the castle in the 15th century. He was the son of the
imperial governor, and according to legend, he killed the commander of the
imperial army, who had offended the memory of a deceased friend of Erasmus.
Lueg fled the wrath of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, returning to the
family fortress at Predjama, where he began to attack estates and villages in
the area. Thus he became a robber baron.
The emperor
ordered Erasmus be captured or killed, but for a long time, the best that could
be accomplished was to lay siege to the castle. Surprisingly, that didn’t seem
to keep Sir Erasmus from continuing his attacks. It turned out that there was a
vertical shaft through the cave roof. Erasmus ordered it enlarged, and that was
not a means to allow him to continue robbing his neighbors, but also allowed
him to smuggle food into his besieged castle. Eventually, however, he was
killed.
Apparently, the
seige saw the destruction of the original castle. The Oberburg family acquired
the ruins. A second castle was built by the Purgstall family early in the 16th
century, only to be destroyed in an earthquake in 1511.
Better luck next
time? It would seem so. In 1570, the current castle was built in the
Renaissance style and hugging the vertical cliff. In pictures, you can see the
top of the cave mouth hanging just above the tower tops, looking like some huge
monster trying vainly to open up enough to swallow it whole.
In the 18th
century, it was known as a favorite summer residence of the Cobenzl family. I
have to wonder about people who enjoy spending their time in a huge castle
precariously protruding from the mouth of a cave. Perhaps they were not
gifted/cursed with my level of imagination.
At the end of
World War II, the castle was confiscated, nationalized, and turned into a museum.
Have you seen
it? Predjama Castle was the castle featured in the 1986 movie Armour of God,
starring Jackie Chan. It was also the filming location of Laibach’s Sympathy
for the Devil cover’s music video. AND the “Castle” map from the 2014 Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive DLC, Operation
Breakout, is based on Predjama Castle. So, you might have.
There are lots
of pieces of the story of Predjama Castle that would lend themselves to a
story. I’ll just add them to the ‘pot’ I have brewing in the back of my mind
and see where they gravitate to.
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