Trilek Castle ( or ''Graščina Trilek''), also known as Old Castle (), is a small castle or fort in the settlement of

Col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

, in the

Municipality of Ajdovščina The Municipality of Ajdovščina (; ) is a municipality with a population of a little over 19,000 located in the Vipava Valley, southwestern Slovenia. The municipality was established in 1994. Its seat is in the town of Ajdovščina. , its mayor ...

in southwest

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 ...

. Built in the early 16th century, it was first mentioned in the 17th-century historian

Johann Weikhard von Valvasor Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor (, ) or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, present-day Slovenia, and a Li ...

's 1689 survey ''

The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola ''The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola'' (, ) is an encyclopedia published in Nuremberg in 1689 by the polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. It is the most important work on his homeland, the Duchy of Carniola, the present-day central part of Slov ...

''.

The castle consists of a small tower and two annexes. Although generally intact, it is in poor condition and unsafe to enter due to instability of the ceilings and walls. A tower and part of castle's

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...

remain. The castle was owned by the Abramsberg noble family, which lived in

Šturje Šturje (; in older sources also ''Sturja'', , ) is a formerly independent settlement in the Municipality of Ajdovščina in southwestern Slovenia. It is now part of the town of Ajdovščina. It is part of the traditional region of Inner Carniola ...

. A stone Roman milestone with a dedication to

Julian the Apostate Julian (; ; 331 – 26 June 363) was the Caesar of the West from 355 to 360 and Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism ...

was discovered in the castle in the 19th century; the milestone is now kept at the

National Museum of Slovenia The National Museum of Slovenia () is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is located in the Center (Ljubljana), Center district of the city near Tivoli City Park. Along with the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, located in the sa ...

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

. Roman coins dating to the second century AD were also found at the castle, and it was later used for defensive purposes against Ottoman attacks.

Sources

*
Trillek Association - Society for the Preservation of Old Traditions
{{coord, 45, 52, 54.63, N, 13, 59, 21.57, E, type:landmark_region:SI, display=title Castles in the Slovene Littoral Municipality of Ajdovščina