Day 13, 15th April

In the afternoon, we drove for 9 kms to see the Predjama castle.

Predjama Castle

The castle was first mentioned in the year 1274 with the German name Luegg, when the Patriarch of Aquileia built the castle in Gothic style. The castle was built under a natural rocky arch high in the stone wall to make access to it difficult. It was later acquired and expanded by the Luegg noble family, also known as the Knights of Adelsberg (the German name of Postojna).
The castle became known as the seat of the knight Erazem Lueger (or Luegger), lord of the castle in the 15th century and a renowned robber baron. He was the son of the Imperial Governor of Trieste, Nikolaj Lueger.

Erazem (painting in the Castle)

According to legend, Erazem came into conflict with the Habsburgs when he killed the commander of the Imperial army, Marshall Pappenheim, who had offended the honour of Erazem’s deceased friend, Andrej Baumkircher of Vipava. Fleeing the vengeance of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, Erazem reached the family fortress of Predjama. From there, he allied himself with King Matthias Corvinus and began to attack Habsburg estates and towns in Carniola. The emperor commissioned the governor of Trieste, Andrej Ravbar, with the capture or killing of Erazem. Erazem was killed after a long siege. Erazem was betrayed by one of his men and was killed by a shot from a cannon.
A servant was bribed to tell Ravbar that the weakest part of the castle wall was where a toilet had been built in the thickness of the wall. The servant lit a candle when Erazem went to the bog for a jobby, and a canonball was fired at the castle, blowing him to bits. An ignominious end.

The toilet

After the siege and destruction of the original castle, its ruins were acquired by the Oberburg family. In 1511, the second castle, built by the Purgstall family in the first decade of the 16th century, was destroyed in an earthquake. In the year 1567, Archduke Charles of Austria leased the castle to baron Philipp von Cobenzl, who paid it off after 20 years. In 1570, the current castle was built in the Renaissance style, pressed next to a vertical cliff under the original Medieval fortification. The castle has remained in this form, virtually unchanged, to the present day.
In the 18th century, it became one of the favourite summer residences of the Cobenzl family. Both the Austrian statesman Philipp von Cobenzl and the diplomat Count Ludwig von Cobenzl spent time in the castle.
In 1810, the castle was inherited by Count Michael Coronini von Cronberg, and in 1846 it was sold to the Windischgrätz family, who remained its owners until the end of World War II, when it was nationalized by the Yugoslav Communist authorities and turned into a museum.
A vertical natural shaft leads out of the original castle, which Erazem ordered to be enlarged, and leads to the exit located at the top of the cliff, 25 meters away from the cliff’s edge. This shaft allowed Erazem to secretly supply the castle with food in the time of the siege; he also used it to continue with his robberies.
Predjama Castle was used as the castle featured in the 1986 movie Armour of God  Jackie Chan. The silly bugger fell down the steps leading to the upper part of the castle and was seriously injured.. It was also investigated for paranormal activity in a 2008 episode of Ghost Hunters International on the Sci Fi Channel. Weird voices have been heard in the castle. Some folk think that they are the voices of the ghosts of victims in the torture chamber, but a more likely explanation is that the wind has carried voices from nearby Predjama village.

The torture chamber with its most recent victim

It was also the filming location of Laibach’s Sympathy For The Devil cover’s music video.
The multiplayer map “Castle” from the 2014 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive DLC, Operation Breakout, is based on Predjama Castle.

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