Kalec Castle (, originally ''Kalc'' or ''Kauc''; or ''Stemberg'')
is a partially ruined castle in
Bač in
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
.
The castle, of which only a single tower and some sections of wall survive intact, stands on a slope known as ''Breg'', near the source of the
Pivka River
The Pivka is a karst lost river in Slovenia. The river is in length. The Pivka ends in Planina Cave, where it merges with the Rak River and then the Unica River. The confluence of the Pivka and the Rak is one of the largest subterranean co ...
, at an elevation of 618 m.
Illustrated in
Valvasor's 1689 ''
Glory of the Duchy of Carniola'', it was built in the mid-17th century by the noble house of
Steinberg
Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH (trading as Steinberg; ) is a German musical software and hardware company based in Hamburg. It develops software for writing, recording, arranging and editing music, most notably Cubase, Nuendo, and Dorico. It ...
. Its later owners included the
Auersperg family and the Slovene composer
Miroslav Vilhar, who also died in it. The castle was abandoned by its last residents after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and began falling apart.
In 1941 it hosted a meeting of the antifascist militant group
TIGR
TIGR (an acronym of the place-names ''Trieste, Trst'', ''Istria, Istra'', ''Gorizia, Gorica'', and ''Rijeka, Reka''), fully the Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. (), was a Militant (word), militant Anti-fascism, anti-fascis ...
.
Today the
Krpan Hiking Trail passes beside the ruins, which are surrounded by a copse of old
linden trees. The path to the castle is bordered by a row of
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
...
trees.
References
Castles in Inner Carniola
Ruined castles in Slovenia
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