Brdo Castle near Kranj

Brdo Castle near Kranj (Slovene: grad Brdo pri Kranju, German: Egg bei Krainburg), usually simply Brdo Castle (Slovene: grad Brdo), is an estate and a mansion in the Slovenian region of Upper Carniola west of the village of Predoslje, City Municipality of Kranj, northwest of Ljubljana. It is the Slovenian government's main venue for diplomatic meetings and other government-sponsored events.

Brdo was attested in written sources as Eck in 1430, Egkh in 1490, and Ekh in 1499.

The present mansion was built by Carniolan nobleman Georg (Jurij) Egkh, general administrator of Habsburg private estates in the Duchy of Carniola, upon the permission by Maximillian I issued in 1510. It was the first Renaissance castle in the Duchy of Carniola, though it has been frequently renovated since. In the 18th century, it was bought by Michelangelo Zois, father of the Carniolan Enlightenment patron of the arts and natural scientist Sigmund Zois. In the 19th century, its interior was completely renovated. In the first decades of the 20th century, it fell into decay until it was bought by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia in 1935. Prince Paul transformed Brdo from an eclectic and biedermeier provincial mansion into a refined summer royal residence. Between 1935 and 1941, several prominent individuals stayed as guests at Brdo, including Edward VIII of the United Kingdom.

After Yugoslavia became a communist state in 1945, the mansion was confiscated from the Karađorđević dynasty and in 1947 after being nationalised became a summer retreat of the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. Brdo and the Vila Bled at the nearby Lake Bled were two former royal residences he typically spent much time in spring and summer. During one such visit in the spring of 1980, Tito suffered a seizure at Brdo and was transferred to the Ljubljana University Medical Centre, where he later died.

After Tito's death in 1980, the estate was transferred to the Socialist Republic of Slovenia and it was later inherited by the Government of the independent Slovenian state. In its traditional role of hosting national and international conferences, in 1990, it was the venue of a conference between the leaders of the six Yugoslav republics in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the dissolution of the federation.

Text adapted from “Brdo Castle near Kranj” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Brdo Castle near Kranj ranks #2,863 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #12 of the 36 mapped in Slovenia. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,486 times in the last 60 days, more than 59% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Ljubljana, 27 km away. See how Slovenia compares in the castle statistics.

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