Rožmberk Castle in South Bohemia is one of the oldest castles of the Vítkovci, first mentioned in 1250. It is a state castle administered by the National Heritage Institute and is known for the Jakobínka tower.
Rožmberk is a castle in South Bohemia and one of the oldest castles of the Vítkovci, the predecessors of the Rožmberk family. According to the website of the state castle, its beginnings date to the middle of the 13th century.[1] The website is run by the National Heritage Institute.[1]
Architecture
It is a complex of what were originally two Rožmberk castles, the Lower and the Upper Castle. Of the Upper Castle only the stone tower called Jakobínka has survived, while another part of it was later rebuilt into a noble summer residence.[1] The Lower Castle went through several reconstructions. Its appearance was shaped most by the Renaissance and finally by the English Gothic Revival style.[1]
History
The castle stood by an important trade route that led from Bohemia through the Vyšší Brod pass to the upper Danube region. It is first mentioned under the German name Rosenberg in 1250, during the reign of Wenceslaus I. As long as its probable founder, Vok of Rožmberk, and his closest descendants lived, it served as the seat of the ruler and the centre of the domain. Despite its advantageous strategic position, it was captured several times.[1]
In 1551 the family estates passed to William of Rožmberk, who was then sixteen years old. Intensive building activity began from that time, and the period is among the most celebrated in the family's history. After William's death, Petr Vok took over the domain in 1592, and under him some interiors were altered under the influence of the Italian Renaissance.[1] In 1601 Petr Vok ceded the domain to Juraj Zrinski, who lived here until his death in 1612 and had the interiors refurbished in the Mannerist spirit. The Gothic castle was thus transformed into a Renaissance residence.[1]
In 1620 the castle came into the hands of the imperial general Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Buquoy. The Buquoy family held it until 1945.[1] Georg Johann Heinrich Buquoy (1814–1883) was a collector who gathered artistic and historical objects and converted the castle into a family museum. Extensive alterations in the style of Romantic Gothic changed the castle's appearance, which thus received its final form, and it was opened to the public.[1]
Interiors and legend
The interior is complemented today by collections that include paintings, weapons, furniture, porcelain and glass. The Rožmberk Hall contains a portrait of the White Lady, Perchta of Rožmberk. According to legend, she appears there.[1]
Jakobínka Tower
The age of the tower has not yet been satisfactorily established. Some researchers place it in the 14th century, others in the 15th, and a smaller part only at the start of the 16th century. The first documented mention dates from 1522: on 9 April of that year a great fire broke out in the town, damaging the Upper Castle and the adjoining tower.[2] The oldest parts of the inner timber structures were dated by dendrochronology to the years 1523–1527, which points to a repair soon after the fire. The name Jakobínka first appears in the castle inventory of 1723, and its origin is not fully explained. The entrance on the ground floor was apparently cut through in 1858.[2]
The cylindrical tower is 38 metres high, has five floors and ends in a conical brick roof 10 metres high. The diameter at ground level is 9.80 metres and the thickness of the masonry 375 cm. The original Gothic portal lies about 14 metres above the ground. The beams carrying the floors are not walled in but simply lie in pockets in the masonry. On the fourth floor there are four large windows, and carved into the floor are the dates 1676 and 1797, the initials IHS and a plan of the game of nine men's morris.[2]