JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. VALTICE CASTLE. VALTICE/CZECH REPUBLIC.

Sunday, Cheshvan 5, 5779. October 14, 2018.

Shalom! World.

Valtice Castle

Valtice (in German Feldsberg) was as late as  the end of World War I a part  of Lower Áustria. Its connection with the Czechoslovak Republic came about as part of  the peace treaty that was signed in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris on 10th September, 1919. The treaty came into effect on 9th August, 1920; and the take-over of Valtice by the Czechoslovak authority took place on 1st July 1920.

The very first time known written about Valtice (written as Veldesperch at  the time) comes from 10th January 1193. The Emperor Henry VI confirmed by deed its Exchange between Passau Bishop Wolfger and the new acquirer Wichard of Seefeld in Bavarian Regensburg. Even before this date, a fortified building stood in Valtice probably with clay and wooden ramparts and a bricked residential core. The New owners of Valtice, the fa milly of Seefeld, belonged  to the prominente ministerials of the Austrian Dukes and held the office of  chief butlers (in historical sources the office is called maior dapifer or truksas). 

At the end of the World War II, the castle was devastated by Russian captives who were waiting for their repatriation there. They were all shot as traitors after  the Red Army came. Some of the contentes from the house were stolen or damaged, then in the mid 1947,  a women's camp for forced labour was establlished in the eastern wing of the front castle premises. The incarcerated women mostly worked on farms and in wine cellars. The entire castle, situated close to the Iron Curtian, waspermanently devastated and used incorrectly as a space for production, workshop, and transport during the communist totalitarian power. A number of warehouses and plants were in the main building - a tobacco kiln was found in the Riding-Hall: and in 1964, the theatre was demolished and a car park for tractors was placed there. 

A gradual renewal of the Castle started during the 1970's and is  still coninuing. In the period 2014-2015, a broad renewal of the Riding-Hall was performed, and a replica of the late baroque theatre was built in the original enclosing walls thanks to EU funds and the efforts of the National Heritage Institute. In 2016,the private chambers of  Lichtenstein princesses on the first floor of the castle were presented  to the public for  the first time. 

Shalom! Aleichem.

Cultural Support:  Jacob Jr. B.A.C.E., avec L'Integration d'Association avec Israel et dans le Monde/Cz .