Castrotorafe Castle, San Cebrian de Castro, Spain

The ruins of the ancient town of Castrotorafe, popularly known as Zamora la Vieja, are in San Cebrian de Castro, emplacement already located in the 12th century.

It was a medieval defensive site which appeared on the banks of Esla River. It keeps the walls built with slate masonry and mortar, and has 4.709 square meters, including the castle, the hermitage and the walls.

The best preserved is the castle, of two enclosures with irregular trapezoid shape. Inside of it, practically ruined, built with different materials and with a floor similar to the outside.

References:

Junta de Castilla y León

User Reviews

Felix (2 years ago)
Historia olvidada. Aun que queda poco es un lugar muy hermoso. Facebook: pueblos abandonados CyL

Adrián Fernández (2 years ago)
Monumento nacional y Bien de Interés Cultural de la provincia de Zamora. Digno de ver si se pasa por la zona, acceso por camino de tierra.

Miriam Nuñez (2 years ago)
Cuando visito sitios como este me da muchísima pena de que no haya resistido el paso del tiempo... los muros muestran la grandiosidad que debió ser...

Luis S. (2 years ago)
No está muy lejos de zamora, pero hace falta ir en coche particular. La visita merece la pena, ya que tanto los restos del castillo como el paisaje natural se unen para crear un entorno de lo más agradable. La señalización hace fácil el acceso, aunque sería bueno darlo a conocer más en la propia ciudad de Zamora. Un ejemplo imprescindible para conocer la provincia de Zamora que fue...

Carlos de Miguel (2 years ago)
Es un paraje muy bonito. Lástima que no esté más protegido. He visto arar con tractor dentro de la muralla...

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Lednice Castle

The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

During the revolt of the Czech nobility he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, and took part in the Battle of White Mountain. After the uprising was defeated in 1620 he systematically acquired property confiscated from some of the rebels, and the Liechtensteins became the wealthiest family in Moravia, rising in status above the Žerotíns. Their enormous land holdings brought them great profits, and eventually allowed them to carry out their grandious building projects here in Lednice.

In the 16th century it was probably Hartmann II of Liechtenstein who had the old medieval water castle torn down and replaced with a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 17th century the chateau was torn down and a Baroque palace was built, with an extensive formal garden, and a massive riding hall designed by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach that still stands in almost unaltered form.

In the mid-18th century the chateau was again renovated, and in 1815 its front tracts that had been part of the Baroque chateau were removed.

The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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