BLED CASTLE – according to written sources, the oldest castle in
Slovenia, first mentioned in a 1011 donation deed as castellum
Veldes.
Perched atop a steep cliff rising 130 metres above the
glacial Lake Bled is a symbol of Bled and Slovenia – Bled Castle. The image of
the castle forming a dramatic backdrop to the romantic island and the church on
it has earned the resort worldwide recognition through the centuries. Castle
terraces offer spectacular views of the lake and the island, down the Dežela
area with Lesce and Radovljica and over to the mountain ranges of the Karavanke
and the Julian Alps.
It has been over a thousand years since
on 10 April 1004 the German king Henry II
conferred the estate of Bled located in the province called in Carniola on
Bishop Albuin of Brixen and his church. In
1011 Henry II awarded Albuin's successor, Adalberon, the castle on the
cliff (castellum Veldes) in a charter in which the castle was first explicitly
mentioned. The Bled Castle was the administrative seat of the Brixen estate in
the Gorenjsko region. Medieval documents refer to Bled with its German name
Veldes. In terms of written documents, Bled Castle is
the oldest castle in Slovenia. Castle buildings are arranged
around the lower and upper courtyards.
The fame of Bled and its beauties
was spread around the world by world travellers, including Janez Vajkard
Valvasor and his Glory of the Duchy of Carniola of 1689.
Owing
to its strategic geographic location, Bled has always been an important venue of
high–level political and other official meetings. Its castle
has been visited by a number of high-ranking statesmen who enjoyed the
breathtakingly beautiful views of the surrounding nature.
For more
information on Bled, please go to www.bled.si
