Podčetrtek belongs among the oldest castles in Slovenia. It was once located at an old national border, at Sotla river facing Croatia or Hungary. Podčetrtek is located in the area which already in 1071 became a property of Krško diocese. The construction of the castle can be dated to a time after the first third of the 12th century. First written record dates from 1361.
On 12th of November 1441 bishop of Krško Johan temporarily gave his castles Pilštanj, Podčetrtek, Bizeljsko and Mokronog to emperor Friderik IV who kept them until 1445, Afterwards the castle was governed by managers and between 1479 and 1490 it was in the hands of Hungarian army. In 1515 the castle succumbed to peasant revolt.
In 1527 the castle possession was moved to Hans Tattenbach and his successors leased and rented the castle and in 1612 Krško diocese imparted them the castle as heritable or private possession. At the execution of Erazem Tattenbach in 1628 the castle was confiscated by the province from which Ignac Attems. The castle was completely renovated in 1874 and remained a property of Attems' until the World War II.
After the war when the castle became a general public property it served various purposes and gradually it was soon completely robbed. Only a few artworks were rescued and are stored by Posavski muzej in Brežice. Nowadays it is abandoned.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.