A Catalogue of Castles

Statenberg Manor and Gardens

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Statenberg - A House Worth Saving"

Statenberg Manor Photo - Statenberg Manor and Gardens, Makole, Slovenia

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Slovenia can be described as a country of castles, though one can make the distinction between a fortified castle and something more like the English ‘manor house'. A fortified castle is a ‘grad’ and a manor house (the description ‘palace’ is sometimes used), known as a ‘dvorec’, however, the terms are not rigorously adhered to. I’ve seen Statenberg referred to as both a grad and a dvorec but if we’re going to be accurate, the current Statenberg is most definitely a dvorec (though its previous incarnation was a grad).Statenberg is in the Stajerska region which covers the eastern central region of the country; it’s often described as being in the environs of Ptuj though it’s just as easily ...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on December 9, 2012

Statenberg Manor and Gardens

Makole, Slovenia

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Borl Castle

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Attraction | "You'll Have Borl to Yourself"

Borl Castle Photo - Borl Castle, Ptuj, Slovenia

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It’s a sad fact that many of Slovenia’s most handsome castles are underused and in dire need of repair. Some fare better than others with the best known castles housing excellent museums and facilities for weddings but there are others that remain locked up, likely to fall into ruin long before anyone finds the money to restore them. Borl Castle is not quite in ruins but the years and a succession of owners have not been kind to it. I’d heard that it’s not open to the public but Borl is situated in such beautiful countryside that we knew that the effort would not be wasted. It’s in the Haloze Hills south east of Ptuj and just a couple of kilometres from the border with Croatia. Its positi...Read More

It’s a sad fact that many of Slovenia’s most handsome castles are underused and in dire need of repair. Some fare better than others with the best known castles housing excellent museums and facilities for weddings but there are others that remain locked up, likely to fall into ruin long before anyone finds the money to restore them.

Borl Castle is not quite in ruins but the years and a succession of owners have not been kind to it. I’d heard that it’s not open to the public but Borl is situated in such beautiful countryside that we knew that the effort would not be wasted. It’s in the Haloze Hills south east of Ptuj and just a couple of kilometres from the border with Croatia. Its position on a craggy ledge overlooking the River Drava once gave it a strategic importance but was eventually what caused it to fall into disuse in the 1980s.

We took a bus bound for Zavrč, the last village before the border and got off when the castle came into view just after a cluster of houses known as Dolane; as the road crosses the river you’ll see the castle ahead on the right and a winding road indicates the way to it. The bus stops just at the bottom of this road. As we walked up the road we were passed by a steady(ish) stream of cars and presumed that the gostilna we’d heard about at the castle must be a popular lunch time spot.

The gostilna, though, was not open and didn’t look to have been for some time. A sign indicated that at one time they’d also rented our rooms for the night. It’s a shame that it’s all closed up because it’s a really lovely spot and with a bit of work, it could look quite pretty. The castle is just a few steps beyond this. It’s kept locked when there aren’t events taking place so it’s not possible to get into the courtyard for a better look; we had to make do with peering through the iron gate.

Visually it’s a typical Slovenian Baroque style castle; three wings, open at one end (if you’ve been to Ptuj castle you’ll find this one quite similar), white exterior walls and a red roof. The first floor arcade has been partly restored but there’s plenty more work to do to restore the castle.

The first mention of castle has been traced to 1255 when King Bela, a Magyar, issued a bill to the Lord of Ptuj relating to several castle in the area, among them Borl, or Anchenstein as it has also been known. The Anchensteins were, in fact, the first family to inhabit this castle and when they died out in the 1430s, the castle fellow under the ownership of the Lords of Ptuj.

The Herbersteins, whose name crops up time and again where Slovenian castles are concerned, took over in 1620 followed by the Thuns. The castle changed hands periodically until the 1920s when it was bought by a joint stock company called Borlin (the castle takes its name from the Hungarian word "Borlyn" meaning a river crossing). Their business interest was wine and beer. Then a private individual acquired the castle and it remained in private hands until the Second World War. It was used between 1941 and 1943 as a German transit camp.

Borl Castle was nationalised after the Second World War but remained uninhabited and unused until 1948 when it was used as a refugee camp, but only briefly as the building was not really suitable for that purpose. In 1952 the building was refurbished and turned into a restaurant which did very well. In 1972 Borl was turned into a hotel but the refurbishment was shoddy and did lots of damage to the castle’s interior. In 1981 the River Drava burst its banks and the bridge at Dolane was washed away; guests were unable to get to Borl and, already in a precarious state, the hotel was forced to close down. The castle has since then been used only occasionally for events such as weddings – the old Knights Hall is said to have an fairly impressive painted ceiling, wine tastings and, as we saw posters for, an event for sheep breeders – presumably prize specimens are shown in pens in the castle’s courtyard.

Due to the way the building sits on the outcrop we weren’t able to walk all the way round it so we took advantage of a fell tree trunk in the shade and enjoyed a picnic of windfall apples gathered during the previous days walking. Nobody came along though we’d expected company; Slovenia is a country of walkers for pleasure after all. Is Borl so unloved? It shouldn’t be.

Hopefully someone will appear to inject some much needed funds and treat the castle as it deserves to be treated. To see what can happen with the right investment and some hard work, head over to Gonja Radgona castle and see how one man’s vision is restoring a fine castle on the Slovenia-Austria border.

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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 16, 2011

Borl Castle

Dolane, Cirkulane 2282

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Celje Castle

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Attraction | "Celje Castle - for Super Views Only"

Celje Castle Photo - Celje Castle, Celje, Slovenia

Quote:

Many visitors come to Celje come to Stari Grad or Old Castle that watches over the city from its perch 407 metres above. I knew that eventually I would get to Celje as I spent more time in Slovenia but it was not until I actually went through the town by train en route from Maribor to Ljubljana that I spotted the castle and knew I would have to pay a visit. Slovenes are active people and a weekend walk is a popular pastime. But when Slovenes go walking they really do go for a challenge. Older walkers are usually equipped with walking poles and the whole family usually comes along. There are three biggish climbs close to the centre of Celje, the most popular being the climb to the Old Castl...Read More

Many visitors come to Celje come to Stari Grad or Old Castle that watches over the city from its perch 407 metres above. I knew that eventually I would get to Celje as I spent more time in Slovenia but it was not until I actually went through the town by train en route from Maribor to Ljubljana that I spotted the castle and knew I would have to pay a visit.

Slovenes are active people and a weekend walk is a popular pastime. But when Slovenes go walking they really do go for a challenge. Older walkers are usually equipped with walking poles and the whole family usually comes along. There are three biggish climbs close to the centre of Celje, the most popular being the climb to the Old Castle. We made the ascent through the woods and came back down along the road. When walking in Slovenia it is the custom to smile and say hello to everyone you meet and since the whole town is out walking that mounts up to a lot of "Dober dans".

The earliest section of the castle dates from the first half of the thirteenth century and there have been further additions in the Gothic, Romanesque and Renaissance styles. The castle was at one time the largest fortress complex in Slovenia containing a whole community within its walls. The castle fell into disuse in the eighteenth century and rebuilding has been going on since the end of the nineteenth century.

Visitors can now wander around the walls and take in the tremendous views stretching out first over tree covered hills to the snow capped peaks in the distance. At present the reconstructed main tower - Fredericks Tower cannot be climbed but this may happen in the future.

Admission to the castle is free and there is limited car parking if you come by road. Further parking spaces are available at intervals on the winding road up to the castle. A refreshment kiosk is open during summer only and some seating has been installed in one of the courtyards for musical performances in summer.
A trip to the castle is really about enjoying the climb – whether a leisurely stroll by way of the road or a more strenuous ascent by the wooded trail. Perhaps when some more work has been done it will be possible to take a tour and learn more about the construction and the history but at the present the highlight of a visit is the selection of views from various parts of the promontory. On a clear winter’s day you can see right out to the snow covered peaks of Zreče but even the views over to the city centre with the Old Town beside the river are pretty good too.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 31, 2008

Celje Castle

Celje

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Ptuj Castle

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Attraction | "The King of the Castles"

Ptuj Castle Photo - Ptuj Castle, Ptuj, Slovenia

Quote:

The highlight of a visit to Ptuj is the impressive castle that guards over the town from a position on a high flat plateau. Travelling to or from the far north east of Slovenia by train gives you the best overall view of the castle, in my opinion Slovenia's most attractive.Feudal lords built a castle here around the tenth century of which one tower still stands today. In the twelfth century Archbishop Konrad of Salzburg, the then feudal lord of Ptuj, ordered the construction of a new fortress; only the Leslijev wing of that construction can be seen today. The bulk of what visitors see today are the renaissance and baroque additions to the castle and the outward appearance of the castle is ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on November 17, 2008

Ptuj Castle
Muzejski trg 1
Ptuj
+386 2 78 79 230

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Velenje Castle & Museum

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Attraction | "A Castle Full of Surprises"

Velenje Castle Photo - Velenje Castle & Museum, Velenje, Slovenia

Quote:

Rare is the Slovenian town that does not have a castle. Some of them are referred to as castles but look more like a rather grand house; Velenje’s is very much a castle. It is situated on a rocky outcrop that looks over the city, it has defensive walls and it is composed of a series of connected towers that encloses a courtyard. The great thing about Slovenian castles is that you never know what is going to be inside them. Each one is quite different, housing a variety of collections, many of which were formerly private collections and have been bequeathed to the local municipality. This means that the displays are rather eclectic, ranging as they do from quite academic to pretty frivolous...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on February 25, 2010

Velenje Castle & Museum
Ljubljanska 54
Velenje, Slovenia SI-3320
386 (0)3 898 26 30

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Slovenska Bistrica Castle

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Attraction | "Slovenska Bistrica Castle - Roll Up for a Private Tour"

Slovenska Bistrica Castle Photo - Slovenska Bistrica Castle, Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia

Quote:

Every Slovenian town worth its salt has a castle (in Slovene a "grad") and Slovenska Bistrica's is one of the best. The castle is very much in the central European style and therefore looks more like a baroque mansion than a fortress. The town is surrounded by villages that nestle in the foothills of the Pohorje Massif and the castle is in the heart of the town rather than occupying a strategically defensive position from which to repel invaders. It is partly the seeming innocuous location that makes this castle seem less "castle-like". When the Germans controlled the town, Slovenian people weren't allowed to live inside its boundaries and were confined to the villages. Only one of the tow...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 3, 2010

Slovenska Bistrica Castle
Grajska 11, 2310
Slovenska Bistrica
+386 2 818 55 26

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Lendava Castle (Galerija-Muzej Lendava)

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Attraction | "Lendava Castle - A Baroque Bolthole"

Lendava Castle Photo - Lendava Castle (Galerija-Muzej Lendava), Lendava, Slovenia

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Lendava castle is situated in the heart of the town, perched high up on a craggy hill. It’s not the highest point in the immediate area which is something that seems a little odd and, although it offers a nice enough view over the red rooftops of the old part of Lendava, it doesn’t appear to have the commanding position you’d think a castle would need. Today’s castle is built in the typical Baroque style, so familiar to visitors to central Europe; however, there has been a fortress here since the twelfth century, and there are records from 1278 that show that the castle was then occupied by the Banffy family. The Baroque restyling of the castle took place in the late seventeenth, early eighteenth cent...Read More

Lendava castle is situated in the heart of the town, perched high up on a craggy hill. It’s not the highest point in the immediate area which is something that seems a little odd and, although it offers a nice enough view over the red rooftops of the old part of Lendava, it doesn’t appear to have the commanding position you’d think a castle would need. Today’s castle is built in the typical Baroque style, so familiar to visitors to central Europe; however, there has been a fortress here since the twelfth century, and there are records from 1278 that show that the castle was then occupied by the Banffy family. The Baroque restyling of the castle took place in the late seventeenth, early eighteenth centuries after the withdrawal of the Turks. It was at this point that the Esterhazy family took over the castle and they had it turned into an L shaped building, to honour King Leopold I. The Esterhazys owned the castle until the outbreak of World War Two and after the war the castle fell under state ownership. There’s been a museum in the castle since the 1970s.

The walk up to the castle entrance is moderately steep but fairly short and it takes less than ten minutes from St Katharina’s Church in the centre of "old Lendava". There’s a handful of parking spaces outside the castle entrance but it’s probably easier to park in the town and walk to the castle, especially at weekends or in the summer. Slovenian castles tend to be pretty low key (the fact that we often visit them in winter probably reinforces this) and you may have to look hard to find the official entrance; fortunately Lendava Castle’s entrance was denoted by means of a small paper notice on the door. We had to ring the bell to get someone to buzz us in. Seconds later a young woman appeared from an office and started talking to us very quickly in Slovene – so fast that it was beyond my rapidly improving but still limited capabilities. She didn’t speak English but said she did speak "a little" German, and proceeded to blow my fairly good German to pieces. We paid the (fairly cheap at about €3 each) entrance fee and were left to our own devices to tour the castle and the exhibitions. In other castles we have had the benefit of a personal guide but this was not offered on this occasion, not was there any literature available that might help us. Fortunately several, but not all, of the displays had English captions (as well as Slovene, Hungarian, Italian, German and Croatian).

On the ground floor the main room contains a display relating to the struggle against the Turks and the displays include items of arms and armour; for me this was not a good start, especially as there were no captions in English or German and my Slovene was not up to the job except for brief snippets. Since we have seen excellent exhibitions covering this period at other museums including the one at Ptuj, we did not feel we missed much by moving quickly on.

The first room upstairs consists of an exhibition about the bronze age site of Oloris, situated near the village of Dolnji Lakoš not far from Lendava. The first part explains the geographic situation of the excavations and an overview of how the excavations were carried out. This section is not captioned in English and we quickly passed by, except for lingering over a few faded photographs of 1980s archaeology students and their professors in very amusing outfits (a kind of retro Time Team if you like). Moving on there are displays of items found during the excavations (the majority of which are just fragments which have been pieced together with new additions to fill the gaps), and then a mock up of a bronze age dwelling complete with cooking area; the recreated dwelling might have been quite interesting but due to poor lighting in this space, we could hardly make anything out and only by using our digital camera could we light up the scene.

On the next floor we were pleased to find displays that interested us a bit more. As well as an excellent temporary exhibition of atmospheric water-colours by a contemporary Hungarian artist, there were two collections on this floor that both enjoyed very much. The first was an ethnographic exhibition looking at the history of the peasants from this part of Europe, and in particular the beautiful and distinctive red embroidery that is typical of the work of peasant woman of the area. There were some wonderful examples of clothing and linens decorated in this way, and a number of richly decorated wedding chests of the kind that a bride would have taken to her new home when marrying. The highlight of this exhibition was the inclusion of some turn of the century (nineteenth to twentieth of course) photographs of Hungarian peasants in traditional dress which really brought the subject to life. It was also helped considerably by the availability of captions in English.

Another room is devoted to Lendava’s most famous son, Gyorgy Zala (1858-1937), one of Hungary’s most celebrated sculptors. His best known work is the magnificent Heroes Square in Budapest and the splendid hall in this museum has on display a set of bronze miniatures of the sculptures that feature in the Heroes Square monument, along with some busts of Zala, and some of his other smaller sculptures. This was a one room exhibition but it was worth visiting the museum for this alone because the subject was presented so well and included some interesting quotes, presenting Zala as his contemporaries saw him.

Moving back downstairs and past where we had entered the castle we still had a few things left to see. In the corridor is a lapidary, a collection of stones from sacred places in the region, some engraved tablets, others parts of religious sculptures. Opposite was a nicely presented, if not hugely fascinating (except to numasmatists) collection of ancient coins, a donation from the state museum in Budapest. Finally, in a small room at the end of the corridor, there was a large collection of mounted butterflies and moths; I don’t really approve of this kind of thing but I must admit to having been quite enchanted by the wonderful colours and patterns of some of the butterflies, and – right or wrong – you have to admire the skill and discipline required to create such a collection and present it so beautifully.

Lendava Castle does not, alas, stand in fabulous grounds or have a viewpoint (although you can get good views over the town from some of the rooms at the "front" of the castle) because it occupies the extreme edge of a rocky outcrop; however, if you were to come back out of the castle grounds and continue up the road that leads from town, you’ll find a very walking and a chance to see some Lendava Gorice (Lendava Hills) wine country.

Lendava Castle is really quite a modest attraction and shouldn’t take up more than a couple of hours at the very most (if you only spent an hour there you wouldn’t be doing it an injustice) and it’s certainly not the best castle museum I’ve visited in eastern Slovenia but I did enjoy my visit and would recommend it to anyone wanting to know a bit more about the area. More English language captions would be useful but most of the exhibitions can be enjoyed without them to a fair degree. I wouldn’t suggest making a special trip to Lendava just to visit the castle but I would say it’s an important part of the town’s history that requires a visit if you happen to be in the area. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 10, 2011

Lendava Castle (Galerija-Muzej Lendava)
Banffyjev Trg
Lendava , Slovenia
00386 (0)2 578 92 60

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Maribor Castle/Maribor Regional Museum

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Attraction | "Further Adventures in Search of Tito"

Maribor Castle Photo - Maribor Castle/Maribor Regional Museum, Maribor, Slovenia

Quote:

Surprising as it may seem to you and I (mainly, I’ll concede, to me), there are people who have no particular desire to view the famous white jacket of the late Yugoslav President, Josip Broz (Tito) so it must come as welcome news for those people, to know that they can visit Maribor Castle without having to see it. On the other hand, for those people who would like nothing more to see this stylish and historic garment, the feeling of disappointment must hang as heavy as a leaden shroud. Three times have I now visited Maribor Castle and three times have my hopes been dashed. Why, then, does the promotional literature relating to the museum collection in the castle continue to boast that the jacket is ...Read More

Surprising as it may seem to you and I (mainly, I’ll concede, to me), there are people who have no particular desire to view the famous white jacket of the late Yugoslav President, Josip Broz (Tito) so it must come as welcome news for those people, to know that they can visit Maribor Castle without having to see it. On the other hand, for those people who would like nothing more to see this stylish and historic garment, the feeling of disappointment must hang as heavy as a leaden shroud. Three times have I now visited Maribor Castle and three times have my hopes been dashed. Why, then, does the promotional literature relating to the museum collection in the castle continue to boast that the jacket is on display? Is the rest of the exhibition so dull that they feel the need to lure in visitors with the promise of this memorial to the man who united the southern Slavs? Let’s find out.

"Zakon" as we say in Slovenia. It’s the law. In this case it’s the law (kind of) that a Slovenian town must have a castle or, at the very least, some castle ruins. Maribor’s Castle is in pretty fine fettle, I’m glad to say, and is located in the very heart of the city. It’s a striking white building with some castle-esque features but it’s not in a traditional fortress style. The castle dates back to the 1470s and was originally built to reinforce the defensive walls of the town. Over the centuries parts have been knocked down and new parts added, usually according to the architectural fashions of the day and the result is that it now looks slightly less castle-y and a lot more like a feudal manor house.

Entrance is via the door on the right of the front façade as you look at the castle. You pay in the small bookshop/ticket office. There’s usually some member of staff available that speaks English, or if not, German. The first time we visited back in 2007 there was nobody who spoke English or German and I was forced to ask in rudimentary Russian where I might find Tito’s jacket. At that time the museum was undergoing re-organisation to coincide with some works taking place in the castle and the jacket, as well as some significant parts of the castle such as the Great Hall, was not able to be seen. If you are short on time and wish to see a particular part of the castle or exhibition, you should mention this because there is a set route and the doors of the various sections of the castle are kept locked and only opened when you are ready to move on to the next part. (This is quite common east of the old Iron Curtain; if you ever go into a museum in Russia or Ukraine it’s likely that some elderly museum attendant will deliberately not open the next door for you until you have spent as much time as she thinks appropriate being deferential before some exhibit of limited interest to most normal people, thankfully Slovenian museum attendants are generally more flexible).

There are occasional guided tours but I’ve never yet been able to coincide my visit with one, I should really as I think I’d get a lot more out of my visits. A good deal of the various exhibitions are, however, captioned in several languages including English though dim lighting in places makes the text difficult to read. As we embarked on our self-guided tour we were given leaflets that gave a brief overview of the collections on display in the museum. On our recent third visit (a friend visiting from England was keen to see the museum) we were also given leaflets describing the special exhibition being held in the great hall (the original figures from the Plague Column that stands on Glavni trg), and another celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s moon expedition.

The first room gives an overview of the museum collection showing a small sample, a sneak preview if you like, of what is to come. The problem with this is you don’t "get" what it is they’re trying to do until you start going round the museum proper: if you don’t realise that they’re just giving you a taster, it just looks like a disjointed and disappointing collection. This room is also badly lit but don’t let it put you off, there is better to come.

As we came to the end of the first room a man appeared, as if from thin air (almost) and ushered us out into the courtyard and asked us to wait while he unlocked the door to the next exhibition. This is one of my favourite parts of the museum: a reconstruction of a nineteenth century apothecary’s store complete with a wall of cupboards and drawers and the accompanying painted ceramic jars, rescued from an old pharmacy in some part of Slovenia the name of which escapes me now. While this is by no means a unique display it has been put together well and the highlight of it is a section of drawers labelled with the names of various ingredients used by the apothecary: open the drawers and you can smell and see the ingredients for yourself. Brilliant fun!

Next we were led into a large hall that contained an eclectic exhibition relating to the history of Maribor and the Stajerska region; it's a lot more interesting than it sounds because it looks at several aspects of Maribor (and Slovenian) history and tradition that you're sure to come across if you spend anytime here. For example there's a scale model of a kozolec, a very particular design of hayrick you'll only find in Slovenia: the kozolec is a kind of talisman to Slovenians and, according to numerous sources, the very thought of a kozolec makes Slovenian exiles all misty-eyed. (In a macabre and slightly tenuous aside, the leader singer and founder member of perhaps Slovenia's biggest rock music export, Laibach, committed suicide by hanging himself from a kozolec).
Like most municipal museums there are the usual collections of coins, arms and armour, art, costumes and so on. When we last visited we arrived in the last hour of opening so the staff we re keen to steer us through quite quickly. I didn't mind too much because I was intent on seeing three things. One was the Festival Hall (also known as the Knight's Hall) with its painted ceiling (painted by a prominent Graz artist in the 1760s): I was not disappointed (well I was a little disappointed that photography is prohibited in the hall). The ceiling is magnificent even if its subject matter (a battle between Christian soldiers and invading Turks) is a little grim. There are other portraits on the walls of members of the families that have owned the castle over the centuries. In 1874, Franz Liszt gave a concert in the hall - I hope they gave him more time than we got. At the time of our visit the Knights Hall was home to an exhibition of the fabulous orginal figures from the town's plague column on Glavni trg. Due to environmental damage the figures were replaced with replicas and removed to a loal church but they are now displayed here in the castle pending the opening of a permanent exhibition space in the castle next year as part of Maribor's tenure as the European City of Culture for 2012.

Another part of the castle I got to see this time which had been off limits previously was the wonderful Baroque staircase which reminded me of an ornately iced pink cake. The staircase is decorated with extravagant sculptures and is a great example of rococo design.
I was thrilled to have seen the staircase and the great hall at last but there was one thing remaining for me: that jacket. Tentatively I pointed to the place in the brochure that mentioned it and asked if there might be time to see it. The attendant shook her head "It is in storage. We have so many things we can't show everything." I resisted the bitter urge to suggest thay shelve all existing copies of printed literature boasting of their great treasure and comforted myself with the memory of my visit to the great man's tomb in Belgrade - now they know how to commemorate a hero!

Admission is €3 for adults - an absolute bargain if you arrive with plenty of time to see as much as possible. Had we visited just a day earlier admission would have been free (it's free of charge between February and mid May). The castle is closed on Mondays throughout the year. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 20, 2011

Maribor Castle/Maribor Regional Museum

Maribor, Slovenia

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Vurberk Castle

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Attraction | "Vurberk Castle - Can you feel the energy?"

Grad Vurberk Photo - Vurberk Castle, Slovenia, Europe

Quote:

Vurberk Castle can be seen from the main Maribor to Ptuj road, perched high on a hill otherwise covered with first vineyards then, higher up, a rich forest. With its white walls and red roof I often wondered if there was a castle there but couldn’t be sure until one day when, looking for a new place to go walking, I spotted the castle marked on a map. Vurberk is on the northern side of the Drava, on the southern edge of the Slovenske Gorice and our first attempt to visit it had to be aborted when we learned that the only places to cross the river are at Maribor and Ptuj. We were asking the waiter at a gostilna in Starse, from where you can see the castle quite clearly, and he told us that ...Read More

Vurberk Castle can be seen from the main Maribor to Ptuj road, perched high on a hill otherwise covered with first vineyards then, higher up, a rich forest. With its white walls and red roof I often wondered if there was a castle there but couldn’t be sure until one day when, looking for a new place to go walking, I spotted the castle marked on a map.

Vurberk is on the northern side of the Drava, on the southern edge of the Slovenske Gorice and our first attempt to visit it had to be aborted when we learned that the only places to cross the river are at Maribor and Ptuj. We were asking the waiter at a gostilna in Starse, from where you can see the castle quite clearly, and he told us that once a year the people from the villages in the Starse Polje (Plain) get together one Sunday and wade through the river and walk to Vurberk. We weren’t up for wading on this particular day so we made a mental note to try again another time.

Fortunately there’s a direct bus from Maribor to Vurberk which passes very near to the castle though we decided to get off a little further away to extend our walk. If you don’t want to climb the hill (and it is quite a steep circuitous hike) ask the driver to drop you at the right spot (this is effectively the back of the castle); from here it’s a shorter, more gentle climb of just a couple of minutes.

We started our walk by following the road until it starts to level out then we followed the red and white signs painted on the trees and wound our way slowly up through the trees. It was a warm September day and colourful butterflies were fluttering around us; every now and then we’d quickly shield our heads with out hands as plump horse chestnuts fell from the trees, their casings sharp and thorny. Just below the castle the forest trail turns into a gravelled path lined with wooden benches, each one with a number beside it. Local people discovered that a number of locations in the area – 31 here - were ‘energy points’, the physician of one of the Herbesteins xxxxx We followed this path to the castle entrance; beside it there’s a viewing point from which you can look down towards the Drava and across to the slopes of the eastern Pohorje.

Only part of the castle remains; a small gothic tower and the renaissance entrance. Some photographs and drawings exist that show that the castle was four wings around a rectangular core. There was a round defence tower, the ground floor of which was a prison. The castle was two storeys high with lordship’s rooms on the first and second floors. An Allied bombing raid in 1945 destroyed most of the castle but what remains has been used creatively with a bank of seating erected to form an outdoor amphitheatre for concerts in summer, and a bar operates in the tower daily from 2.00pm.

The castle dates from the thirteenth century; it certainly existed by 1238 but is probably from slightly earlier. Documents from 1244 show that the castle was at that time known as Wuermwerg, the name deriving from the German ‘Wurm’ meaning ‘worm, which would correlate with the Vurberk coat-of-arms which depicts a ‘worm’, a mythical serpent-dragon. The castle has had a chequered history belonging for a time to the Archbishopric of Salzburg and later to local well known families such as the Herbersteins and the Attems whose coats-of-arms can be found on many Slovenian castles. One notable fact about Vurberk is that it never fell to the Turks, even at the height of their brutal raids on the castles of eastern Slovenia.

From the mid 1880s Vurberk was in civic ownership but it reverted back to the ownership of the Herbersteins in 1907. During the Second World War it was used as a sanatorium by the Russian Red Cross, then, during the German occupation the castle was used as a Nazi political school. On the 22nd February 1945 it came under heavy attack and was left derelict for many years after. Only in the last decade was the roof replaced and the remainder of the façade renovated.

Some of the treasures from this castle can be seen in the regional museum housed in the castle at Ptuj, among them the cannon from the castle’s battery which was last fired in celebration of the victory against Napoleon in 1814.

Just below the castle is the handsome Church of Our Lady which dates from the 1330s. The church was restored in the eighteenth century and there are two carved Roman stones embedded in the buildings façade; during Roman times the water for Poetovium (now Ptuj) came down from Vurberk. The church is kept locked but it may be possible to arrange to see the interior if you contact the tourist service in Spodnja Duplek.

There isn't much left to see at Vurberk but the walk is worth the trip alone and the views are pretty special too. Maybe the bio-energy will work for you? Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 11, 2011

Vurberk Castle
Vurberk, Near Maribor
Slovenia

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