Original scientific paper
Castle Cesargrad
Drago Miletić
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Zagreb
Abstract
The ruins of the Cesargrad castle stand above the Sutla River (481,5 m), opposite Styrian town Knušperk, at the border with Slovenia. Cesargrad is first mentioned in the document from 1399 by which King Sigismund gave the county of Zagorje to Herman II, count of Celje, including the already built castle in the center of the largest property in the county. As there are no visible remains from the period preceding the counts of Celje, without archeological excavations it cannot be concluded what the castle looked like. While Cesargrad was owned by the powerful counts of Celje, from 1399 to 1456, there was no major construction work done on the castle. In the period of Styrian feudal rule over Cesargrad, from 1456 to 1521, Turkish raids were frequent and, since Cesargrad with Knušperk defended Styria from the south, it had to be rebuild to improve its defense. In the last period, when Cesargrad was owned by the Erdody family, one of the most powerful families of the time, the castle was considerably enlarged and the old nucleus radically rebuilt. During the great peasants' uprising of 1573, Cesargrad was seized and burnt down, but was soon restored. Toma Erdody, Croatian ban, famous military leader who conquered the Turks in the 1593 battle of Sisak, decided to build his new residence, Novi Dvori of Cesargrad (1603), adhering to the highest standards of the time. Several documents written in the castle indicate that, because of the continuing Turkish threat, during most of the 17th century Cesargrad was maintained as a fortification. Cesargrad is one of the largest castles in Croatia (225 m long) and contains the strongest fortification structures (730 cm thick walls), Although a relatively high percentage of construction elements has been preserved, no architectural sculptural elements remain, except consoles in the sanctuary and the rib springer in the chapel nave, which makes identification of layers and dating of individual parts difficult without archeological research. Nevertheless, Cesargrad in its present shape may be considered the final stage of the development of medieval castles in Croatia, blending the architecture of previous periods with that of renaissance castles and even early baroque palaces.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
147926
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2000.
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