Zaprice Castle
The Museum and its administrative, exhibition and storage premises are housed in the Zaprice Castle. The castle lies on a hill above Kamnik and Kamnik suburbs Šutna and Zaprice. According to the written sources, a court stood at this place in the 14th century, first owned by the knights of Zaprice (the Dienger von Apecz family from Zaprice) and later by the citizens of Kamnik. It is possible that the court had been destroyed in 1511, during a big earthquake, and in 1550 Jurij Lamberg built a new mansion at its place, as it could be seen in the Valvasor’s graphics (photo). The building was a special residential type of a country mansion with corner prominences, having three floors and no inner yard. The same types of castles were built latter in the nearby area. The castle was built with late-Gothic formations, which could be seen even today (balcony consoles, Gothic windows with bevelled edges, elements inside the floor ground and in the side wing), whereas as a whole it has more of a Renaissance appearance. Because of the threat of Turks, the castle had to be fortified with fortified hexagonal turrets on both corners, later turned to pavilions, and with defence walls, which had surrounded the castle from the beginning in the form of a triangle. The corner prominences were more or less symbolic and plastic ornaments, required by a Renaissance fashion, and did not have any protecting function. The citizens were rebelling against building of a new mansion because they were afraid that Turks could destroy the town if they were to gain control over the castle. The castle had also its own chapel, and during the time of the Protestant Reformation, it was a place of Lutherans from Kamnik (who gathered probably above the entrance portal of the west side or in the oldest southern side wing). The castle acquired present appearance not earlier than in time of late Baroque, in the third quarter of the 18th century in time of Anton Medard noble Wiederkehr, who enlarged and decorated it in Baroque style. The castle’s present form has been maintained from the 19th century, when the entering north-eastern wing was built, bordering the castle’s triangle ground floor in the same way as the south-western wing.
In the ground floor of the castle, there is the so-called Renaissance arcaded ground floor, whereas the first and the second floor, which is linked to the late-Gothic mirror staircase with an opened shaft, have flat ceilings. In the castle, there is a renewed castle salon, which had walls till the end of World War II, decorated with Baroque painted wall papers, now being kept in the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana. Unfortunately after World War II almost all the interior equipment has been carried around or destroyed. Today a path leads from the youngest entering wing to the town. By the path old exotic trees grow, giving the Zaprice Castle a romantic appearance of the last two centuries.
Last private owners of the castle until 1945, were the Rechbach family. After nationalization when the castle was used as a collecting repatriate centre for refugees and also as an apartment building, it was in 1961 assigned to a purpose of museum which in the following years explored the building, found many architectural elements and preserved them, and renovated the building.
