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Slovenia's Only Cave Castle |
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Predjama CastleI definitely want to find a princess to go with my castle. Not a real princess, just a cool girl who doesn't mind damp places. - Henry Thomas
Perching dramatically at the entrance to a cave high in an overhanging cliff, Its name Predjamski grad literally means Castle in Front of the Cave. The village in front of it is also named Predjama. This castle wasn't built in one go. First written records exist from 13th century, though the first part (left wing) was probably built in the first half of 12th century, the middle part was added in renaissance times and the right wing was build around 1570. (A medieval knight's tournament is still held each summer in front of the castle.) The notorious rogue knight Erasmus Lueger, aka Erazem Predjamski, owned the castle in the 15th century. Erazem was once a guest of Austrian emperor Friederich III. When one of emperor's relatives insulted one of Erazem's good friends, Erazem took a sword and killed him. For this, he was sentenced to death, but managed to escape and made it back to his stronghold. Triest's governor Ravbar was ordered to find and kill him. Legend says that none of Ravbar's men knew where Erazem's stronghold was, so Erazem himself put on a diguise and offered to lead them to it. They laid siege to the castle for months. When they were freezing in the middle of winter, Erazem allegedly catapulted a roasted ox from the castle and wished them good appetite. When spring arrived, he sent them freshly picked cherries. Ravbar was thoroughly puzzled by this - there were rumours among his men that there was a sort of paradise land in the caves behind the castle, that yielded all sorts of crops throughout the year. Little did they know that there was a passage through the cave exiting on the other side of the hill (probably this passage and the elaborate cave system were the main reason why the castle was built there in the first place). Hence, though Ravbar received fruity gifts from Erazem, the siege itself proved fruitless - until the summer of 1484, when Ravbar managed to bribe one of Erazem's servants. This servant told him that though castle's walls can easily withstand cannon fire, the walls of the outhouse were quite another matter - a well-aimed cannonball could penetrate its wall and kill whomever is using it at the moment. So, when Erazem was relieving himself, the servant gave Ravbar's men a signal and they fired at the outhouse. The cannonball passed through and missed Erazem - but when it hit the back wall, an avalanche of rocks buried him beneath it, ending his rebellion. (My guess is that the outhouse is that little building to the far left.)
Inside the castle See also:
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