Bled Castle, Slovenia

The Bled Castle is a medieval castle located on the edge of a rock above the Bled Lake in Slovenia. The castle was probably built in the late 10th or early 11th century and was first mentioned in 1011 as castellum Veldes when Holy Roman Emperor Henry II donated it to Bishop of Bixen, Adalberon.

In the 14th century the Bishops of Brixen gave the castle to Konrad von Kreigh as a fief. His descendants stayed in the Bled Castle until 1558 when it was overtaken by the baron Herbard Auersperg who had to leave Bled and the castle in 1574 for his support of the Protestants. The castle's administration was overtaken by the adherent of catholic party, Ivan Josip Lenkovic. Until the middle of 18th century the castle was administrated by the nobles and later also by the adherents of the middle class who stayed at the castle only occasionally.
On order of the court commission in 1803 the Bled Castle became the state property but in 1838 the Austrian Emperor returned it to the Bishops of Brixen. Bishops of Brixen sold the castle in 1858 to industrialist Viktor Ruard who sold it in 1882 to Adolf Muhr. In 1919 the Bled Castle was bought by hotelier Ivan Kenda but later the castle was taken over by the Drava Banovina (province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

After the World War II the Bled Castle was confiscated by the state which refurbished it and turned it into a museum. The Bled Castle is open to the public today.