Karlstejn Castle (part 2) ... the tour inside the castle, and the trip home

OK folks, I've got my tea (green with mint) and am ready to begin ... I know you've been waiting patiently for part two ... or ... maybe NOT so patiently as the case may be!


;-}


First off, some history of the castle for you ... garnered from my trusty guide book (purchased from the gift shop), tour guide pamphlet, and (of course!) Wikipedia.


Karlstejn (Karl is German for Charles) was built by Charles IV - King of Bohemia, King of Lombardy, Imperial King (Rome), King of Italy, and eventually the Holy Roman Emperor during the 2nd half of the 1300's. He was firstborn to John of Luxemborg, King of Bohemia, and baptised Wenceslas in Prague; he was educated in Paris where he took the name Charles in 1323, when he was 7, in honor of his uncle - Charles IV of France. Charles could read and write 5 languages fluently ... Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian. From the age of 17 he began administering to his father's kingdom, due to his frequent absences - and later took over even more control due to his father's loss of sight (he was also known as John the Blind).


The foundation of the castle was laid in 1348. The castle, both strong and beautiful, served as a treasury, a flourishing craft center, and the sacred repository of the crown jewels - the symbols of state power. It was described by chronicler Benes Krabice of Weitmile, who lived during Charles' reign, as "Across the whole wide world there is neither castle nor chapel that is such a precious work, and justly so, for within it the Emperor has harbored the Imperial insignia and treasures from his whole kingdom."


During the first two years, Charles brought together a broad range of rare and precious objects to be housed within the castle, primarily valuable reliquaries. Only in 1450 were the Imperial Treasure and crown jewels deposited there. Thus Karlstejn became not only the notional center of the whole Holy Roman Empire, but at the same time its treasury.


The castle was laid out thusly ... The Upper Castle consisted of the high Great Tower with the Royal Chapel of the Holy Cross, the middle Marian Tower with the Collegiate Church of the Virgin, and the Imperial Palace. Beneath this spread the Lower Castle consisting of the great courtyard (I call it "main" in my previous blog entry and all my pics) and the Burgrave's Residence, reached by a gated access route. The lowest part of the castle is occupied by the Well Tower. Entrance to the castle was originally gained through the Ursuline Gate, on a bridge over the deep moat. The situation today results from later repairs, when the 1st gate was rebuilt and the route leading to it moved to the base of the original moat. From the 1st gate this route rose along the ramparts to the 2nd gate, which was formerly equipped with a drawbridge.


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OK ... now I will describe my castle tour ... interspersed with pics from the guide book to help you visualize - although to be honest, I hope my words will be a good descriptor. Because I am a stickler for truth (the irony here just cracks me up!) ... I will bold anything that is added to my commentary from the guide book, but the rest my friends - is all me and my newfound memory -- OK, OK - I did take some notes!


As I walk through the gate in the main courtyard (see below, a got a pic as I was walking in the tour) into the Upper Castle, I immediately turn right and head up a stone staircase set against an interior castle wall. The tour guide, Michelle as I recall (although she did not spell it this way), held a set of huge gothic castle keys and opened the large wooden door at the top of the stairs.

This is the gate that I walked through to start the tour, however - this image is looking to the left inside the entry, my tour went to the right.

I have now entered the Imperial Palace - first floor. The first room had a HUGE double-window on the same side as the door (facing the village), both arched, with a small balcony outside it. You can actually see this window from one of my pics taken from the Village (see below). They, of course, had the balcony roped off. I do not recall that the tour guide, she spoke very slowly and clearly so was easily understood - thank goodness, mentioned what function this particular room had ... but it currently houses a very large model of the castle grounds, a display case with two important and very old Czech documents (the castle became a repository for important historical documents after Charles died), a large piece of the original wooden wall paneling, stone busts of Charles IV flanked on either side by his four wives, and another display case with original piece of the floor tiles. The room had two large wooden ornate doors, the one we had come through and one other.

See the window under the half-dome? That is in the room the tour starts in ... and I got to look out it - stuck my head right out over the ropes too!

No pics in the guide book, which makes me think the room wasn't terribly significant. However, I do see in the guidebook that this room is the Courtier's Hall - which served as an assembly point for the Emperor's entourage.

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From there we were led into the next room, the Vassal's (Knight's) Hall - the largest hall in the castle. It is a rectangular shaped room, with the entry door being one of the short sides - - and at the far end, on the other short side, was a raised chapel. Along the wall that faced the village (east) there were several window nooks, with benches built in. Interspersed between these windows, and along the opposite wall as well, were almirahs (cabinets) of the castle vassals (of the knightly class) containing their armor and weapons, and painted on the front were their names and coat-of-arms.

There were also two huge wooden chests, which were "registration cabinets" according to the tour guide, where important documents were kept. An immensely large fireplace was on the wall opposite the windows, just right of center (closer to the altar than the door to the Courtier's Hall). The chapel was raised by two steps, and contained a stepped altar with ornate candles on on the left and right steps leading up to the statue of Jesus (or maybe Mary, I do not recall unfortunately). The chapel is called the St Nicholas Chapel - - so maybe the statue at the top of the altar is Santa Claus? Ha! Indeed, it is a Gothic statue of St Nick. Also, the chapel lies within the cylindrical tower at the end of the hall.


Here is a pic from the guidebook - I can tell you that it does NOT do it justice.

The Vassal's (Knight's) Hall in the Imperial Palace at Karlstejn Castle ... a pic of a pic.

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From the Vassal's Hall we exit through the door opposite the 1st window you see in the above pic, out into the smallest courtyard of the castle. But, it doesn't really feel like a courtyard because about 10 feet in front of the door is another building, the Marian Tower, which is obscuring the view of the beautiful (as I would later see) courtyard. We turn right, and head up a small flight of stairs and back inside - to the 2nd floor of the Imperial Palace. See the pic below that I took after the tour ended.

So, we came out under the bridge and turned right to go through the door seen through the archway under the bridge.

We have now entered the Guard Room, directly outside Charles' bedroom. It is a small room with one window opposite the door, a garderobe, a small fireplace, and 3 doors - one leading outside (which we came in by), one to Charles' bedchamber (to the right of entering the room), and one leading into another - smaller - room (perhaps for guards to sleep?). In the main room there was a display case with actual pieces of the games that the guards used to play to pass the time - as I imagine that guarding Charles' bedchamber was not a busy job! I saw playing cards (smaller and longer rectangles than present day), chess pieces, and what looked like marbles with sticks.

These rooms were later used to house the canons of the Karlstejn Chapter, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The guidebook calls these rooms The Deanery.

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From there we move into Charles' bedchamber (aka The Emperor's private apartments). His room is about half the size of the Vassal's Hall - which is below it, and has a raised chapel in the tower end as well. Inside this chapel is a small door leading up the tower to the 3rd floor, the Queen's chambers. Fun!

When I walk through the door, the chapel/tower is on my left and I am facing the 'village' (east) wall - - the wall with the window nooks, with benches built-in. His bed lies off to my right, it is a replica ... and he must have been short! It is wooden, ornate, large, wide ... and short. He has a fireplace and garderobe as well. There is also a cabinet with a replica of a medieval wash basin.

Charles' personal chapel contains a portable altar (a diptych - which I'd bet is like a triptych, except only 2 panels and not 3) made for him by Tommaso de Modena, an Italian painter active in Charles' Bohemia court.

There are 3 doors in this room; the one we came through from the Guard Room, the one in the chapel leading to the Queen's chambers, and the third door (leading to the next room) is beyond Charles' bed.

There is no pic of Charles' bedchamber in the guidebook.

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From there we move into the next room, ahhhhh ... the throne room - or as they call it, the Audience Hall. The wooden paneling is extensive, dark, ornate and heavy. It covers both the walls and the ceiling. The majority of it is original. The ceiling is painted to remind one of the sky ... not 'a painting of a sky' but rather the 'idea of a sky' with some blue and gold ... well, things - I cannot really remember what they were, if anything - maybe just geometric shapes. It was nice, and did evoke the sky - the night sky maybe.

SIGH ... time for another cup of tea ... chamomile and honey this time. Hold on folks ...

OK - I'm back. The throne itself is situated between the room's only two windows. It is a tall wooden throne, that is thin and snug-fitting if you will. It has a little roof even, with curly-cues sticking up on the corners. Apparently, Charles placed it there specifically for psychological reasons ... for he could see clearly, but his face was in shadow to his visitors.

There were coats-of-arms painted in both the window nooks. The one to the left of the throne (if you are looking at it) are the crests of the Holy Roman Empire, and the window to the right contains the crests of the countries that he ruled.

There is a small fireplace in the room, and one other door - directly opposite the one leading from Charles' bedchamber.

Here is a pic from the guidebook ...

You can see the extensive wooden paneling, and the 'sky-like' ceiling here ...

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We move into the next room, The Hall of Forebears ... the main reception room, where the visitors would have waited for their audience with the Emperor. The room is decorated with 17th century life-size paintings (41 of them) of Charles' real and fictitious ancestors, as well as of important visitors. The largest painting is of Charles' himself, and it situated directly next to the fireplace.

The original use of the room also housed many ancestral paintings, both real and fictive. This was intended to demonstrate Charles' legitimacy to the Imperial throne. According to the Medieval conception, right to the throne lay only with the descendants of the oldest ruling families - and thus proving the earliest origin was a question of prestige. Charles' therefore took his family tree back to Biblical figures, and ultimately to Noah himself - passing on the way the Roman Emperors, European sovereigns headed by Charlemagne, the Dukes of Brabant and members of the Luxemborg dynasty.

Here is a pic from the guidebook ...

You can see the painting of Charles next to the fireplace, and 14 of the other 40 paintings as well. The hall is impressive in size. The open door you see leads to the Audience Hall (aka Throne Room).

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At the other end of the hall, opposite the Audience Hall, is the Banquetting Hall - which was entirely roped off. The door was open and we were allowed to look in. It was decorated in the fashion of the Gothic and Renaissance periods ... with lots of dark wood, two large and long dining tables, and larger than usual implements. Some of the items were originals, in particular the tableware. There are also 16 more of the life-size paintings of Charles' ancestors. 

Here is a pic of the Banquetting Hall from my guidebook ...

That is Charles' in the center ...

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We then went out the door seen in the far corner of the pic of the Hall of the Forebears above ... up a tight spiral staircase, and outside! We went across a little bridge (see in my pic below, taken after the tour ended), and into the Marian Tower - first floor.

We went across that bridge, which leads from the Imperial Palace (2nd floor) into the Marian Tower (1st floor) ... this is a close-up - below is a far shot. Yes - this is the same pic as above, as I came out the door UNDER the bridge when moving from the Imperial Palace 1st floor, to 2nd floor.

In this shot, taken from the small Upper Castle courtyard where the tour 1st began, you can see the bridge - - I juve LOVE this shot, and the quaint ivy filled alley created by the wall of the Imperial Palace and the wall of the courtyard outside the Marian Palace.

As I enter into the Marian Tower (the Treasury), the room is dominated by a model of the Great Tower - with a cut away section showing the interior of the Chapel of the Holy Cross ... in minute detail as well. 

A little about the Great Tower ... it is 60 meters high (approx 180 feet) and is independently fortified, including walls that are between 4-6 meters thick (that is 12-18 feet!). Housed here is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, where the reliquaries and Imperial crown jewels were stored. For nearly 200 years from the start of the Hussite Wars, the crown jewels of Bohemian Kings and the Bohemian Archive were kept here.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross was decorated with 130 panel paintings, and the gallery (the ONLY one of it's kind worldwide) has been preserved to the present day. The gilded walls and ceiling of the chapel are inset with semi-precious stones and small glass discs, creating the illusion of a starry sky on the vaulted ceiling. Chroniclers at the time noted that not a chapel in the world was as exquisite as this.

And the model too was pretty damn exquisite! As you may recall, I mentioned in my Karlstejn Castle Blog Part One ... my tour did not include the Great Tower - that one is MUCH harder to get into, as people make reservations MONTHS in advance ... now you can understand why, with something as amazing as the Chapel of the Holy Cross.

Below is a pic of the Chapel from my guidebook ...

This pic just does NOT do it justice ... well, not that I have actually SEEN the Chapel mind - but I did buy a postcard that looks WAY better. See below ...

See ... isn't that WAY more impressive looking? Whew - I'd say so!!!

Soooo .. continuing on with the Marian Tower, 1st floor - - the Treasury also contained, in addition to the fabulous model, original paintings from the staircase leading to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. There was also a large display case with many types of relics - like cups, crowns and what appears to be a crocodile head! Some idea of the original collection of reliquaries (housed here in Charles' time) is given by, for example, the fragments of mail and plate armor supposedly belonging to St Wenceslas, and the crocodile's head (I was right!) once believed to be the head of the dragon slain by St George. Further singular exhibits contained in the treasure include gems from classical Antiquity brought to the castle as early as Charles' own time, a small Gothic footed bell mentioned in the oldest surviving castle inventory, and Gothic metal and enamel candlesticks.

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We move into the next, and last of the tour, room - The Jewel House. This room has copies of some of the paintings from the Chapel of the Holy Cross, as well as replicas of the inlays - with cross-shaped centers where the semi-precious stones were placed. Some of the paintings were St Catherine, the Patron Saint of Translators (really?!) and St Wenceslas.

There is also a display case housing copies of two large and extremely ornate crowns ... on the left is the Bohemian crown (see pic from guidebook below), and on the right is the Imperial crown. The Bohemian crown (copy) is from 1346, and Charles was the 1st of 22 kings to have it. That crown is, to my taste, gaudy - almost like a theater crown, or a kids crown ... overly crowny if you will. The original Imperial crown can be seen in Vienna.

See ... isn't it a little over-the-top?

AND THAT CONCLUDES OUR GUIDED TOUR LADIES AND GENTS.

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So, as I exit the 1st floor of the Marian Tower I see signs pointing me to the gift shop ... hurray! See the pic below. The entry room to the shop itself had a huge display case with about a dozen original Renaissance locks - which were huge massive things ... like feet long! There were also Hussite arrows, Gothic axes, Medieval lanterns, and Gothic keys as well.

That is the entrance to the gift shop ... over a drawbridge no less!

From there I wandered around the Upper Castle grounds a bit and took some pics. However, I didn't get to see all the "self guided" tour bits - - as my Martin's Tours guide came looking for me, as the rest of the group was waiting for me so we could go to lunch ... dammit! Ah well ... 

This is a shot of the Great Tower and the Marian Tower - you can see someone walking into the gift shop, which is located in the Marian Tower.

This is the wooden bridge leading from the Marian Tower to the Great Tower ... and over the courtyard that I was in to cross from the Imperial Palace 1st floor to 2nd floor - albeit on the other side of the Marian Palace (shown on the right here).

This was a locked entry up into the Great Tower courtyard.

And so ... sigh ... I have left the castle grounds. I am on my way downhill into the Village, to have lunch - which for me was Czech Potato Soup (we all had this appetizer), and Goulash (no meat) with dumplings, and Strudel for dessert. It was quite yummy! Although, the dumplings were pretty bland - - and to me, albeit I am NOT a chef of any real knowledge, looked like thick slices of white bread.

This is the Village Square ... super quaint.

Oh my, who might that cutie be?   ;-}

The sweet little stream running down alongside the Village road.

The cool bridges over the stream are used as parking spots by the owners of the houses/shops on the other side of the stream! Neat!!!

OK ... as you can tell, I just LOVE this little stream - and the bridges that go over it!!!

OK folks ... the following two pics are the MONEY SHOTS of the Castle, tied for 1st place as my 'best' far-shot of the Karlstejn Castle. Ready? Drum roll ...

Pic one ...

Pic two ...

You tell me ... which do you think is best?

And this is the cute restaurant next to the Karlstejn parking lot ... and off onto the bus back to Prague I go!

A close-up of an original painting of Praha that was being sold in Karlstejn ... I should've got it, it was only $15 ... but I was late for the bus, dammit!

One last image of the castle ... this is my favorite of the 9 postcards that I bought at the castle gift shop. It is a 19th century graphic - no more info was available.

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And here are some pics of the ride back, and then some of the city as I made my way home from the drop-off point of Old Town Sq ...

The Czech countryside ...

Loved the look of this house!

Back in Praha ... this is the large sculpture in the middle of Old Town Sq

I don't know WHAT this building houses - but it is simply magnificent! Sheesh - I've not even been here a week yet, I need to come up with some new adjectives!!! Now - where did I put my thesaurus?!   ;-}

And I'm back at the Powder Tower (still don't know what it is, or was) ... about to get on the metro at the Mustek stop.

And that, my friends and family, is the END of my most wondrous Saturday in and around Prague. Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Ami's Karlstejn Pics