Bogenšperk Castle

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Grad Bogenšperk

Bogenšperk 5, Sl-1275 Šmartno pri Litiji, Slovenia,

http://www.bogensperk.si

info@bogensperk.si

Phone386 (0) 1 898 7664, 386 (0) 41 703992

ProprietorBogenšperk Public Institute on behalf of Šmartno pri Litiji Municipality and Technical Museum of Slovenia

In 1511 the lords of Wagen began building Bogenšperk Castle as a replacement for their fortress at nearby Lichtenberg, which had become uninhabitable following an earthquake. The new castle was a Renaissance building with typical round towers. The castle reached its golden age at the end of the 17th century, when Janez Vajkard (Johann Weichard) Valvasor lived and worked there. After 1970 a systematic renovation of the castle began and today, thanks to Valvasor`s heritage, it is one of the most important cultural monuments in Slovenia. Since 1998 the Bogenšperk Public Institute has managed the building.

The original copy of Valvasor’s most famous work Die Ehre des Herzogthums Crain ('The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola') from 1689, a monumental work of at least 3,532 pages on late 17th-century Carniola, is on display here. Valvasor was one of the first printers in Carniola to introduce copperplate printing, which was then highly developed in Germany and the Netherlands. This activity was carried out in the castle from 1678 to 1689. Valvasor`s graphic work is presented in two rooms; in the first a special construction presents publications printed in Bogenšperk (a total of 11 different copperplate printed works were produced in 11 years, six of a topographical nature and three with religious content), and the second part of the collection presents the printing works as it was in Bogenšperk in Valvasor`s time. Part of the collection presents superstitions connected with weddings, folk medicine and casting spells. Here the exhibits are dream books, honey-pastry figurines for people in love, playing cards, dice, instructions for palmistry, prescriptions from books on folk medicine and house blessings.

On the 300th anniversary of 'The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola', a collection of costumes was reconstructed from the illustrations and descriptions in Valvasor`s book. Eight showcases exhibit rocks, fossils and minerals, collected exclusively on the territory of Litija Municipality. Some of the exhibited minerals belong to the famous Zois Collection of Minerals, which ranks as one of the most important existing collections. The geodesic collection (installed in 1987) is also connected with Valvasor, who together with his collaborators developed a map of the Slovene lands and neighbouring Croatia. It shows Valvasor`s significant contribution to the transcription of Slovene geographical names. The collection is a survey of cartography from its beginnings in the Roman empire to the present day, with a special emphasis on the development of cartography in Slovenia in the 19th century (from which the famous Kozler map of the Slovene lands dates) and after the Second World War. The hunting collection presents hunting trophies provided by the associations of hunters from Zasavje. The collection on the Second World War is the oldest museum collection in Bogenšperk Castle, and was opened in 1972. During the Second World War Bogenšperk Castle was, for a short period, a border crossing point between Germany and Italy, which had occupied and divided between them most of the territory of Slovenia.