The State Chateau in Lednice in southern Moravia is part of the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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Lednice State Chateau is a chateau in the municipality of Lednice in southern Moravia, part of the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape. The originally medieval residence is now managed by the National Heritage Institute and is among the most visited monuments in the country.[1]
Status and management
The chateau has been state property since 1945. It is managed by the Ministry of Culture through the National Heritage Institute, its regional office in Kroměříž. A Neo-Gothic reconstruction in the 19th century turned it into a Romantic residence in an extensive park of almost 200 hectares. According to the chateau's website, visitors will find a palm house, a Venetian fountain, a Roman aqueduct, a Chinese pavilion, a minaret and an artificial ruin, Janův hrad. Because the buildings are linked with a landscape shaped by people, the whole Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996.[1]
From fortress to chateau
The first historical record of the place dates from 1222. There was apparently a Gothic stronghold with a manor farm here at the time, which King Wenceslaus I granted in 1249 to the Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek.[1]
In the 16th century, according to the text, Hartmann II of Liechtenstein apparently had the medieval moated stronghold demolished and a Renaissance chateau built. At the end of the 17th century that too was pulled down, and a Baroque residence arose with a large architecturally designed garden and a monumental riding school designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach; the riding school has survived in roughly its original form. After the middle of the 18th century the chateau underwent further alterations, and in 1815 the front wings of the Baroque building were removed.[1]
Its present form dates from 1846–1858. Prince Alois II of Liechtenstein considered Vienna an unsuitable place for summer celebrations and therefore had Lednice rebuilt as a representative summer residence in the spirit of English Gothic.[1]
Interiors
The state rooms on the ground floor served for large gatherings of European nobility. They have carved ceilings, wood-panelled walls and select furnishings, and today make up the first tour route. On the first floor are the private rooms of the Liechtensteins, and on the second floor the rooms of the children and their governesses, together with the puppet museum of Milan Knížák.[1]
The Liechtenstein family
The Liechtensteins held Lednice from 1322 until 1945, when their property was confiscated, that is, for more than six centuries. They originally came from Styria and gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian–Austrian border. Their position in Moravia changed fundamentally under the brothers Karl, Maximilian and Gundaker; Karl and Maximilian acquired the wealth of the Černohorský of Boskovice family through marriage. The brothers converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism. Karl, who served at the court of Rudolf II, became Land Captain of Moravia in 1604 and was raised to the rank of prince in 1608, receiving the Duchy of Opava. The family received the hereditary princely title on 20 December 1608, the first in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown.[2]
After the Battle of White Mountain and the defeat of the Estates' uprising in 1620, the family became the wealthiest in Moravia by buying up confiscated estates. Its large landed property enabled extensive building activity in Lednice.[1]