Castle life
In the previous materials, we got acquainted with the history of the Hluboka castle, its architecture, beautiful interior design and even individual personalities who lived in it. However, isn't it interesting to continue acquaintance with it and find out how people lived in it, say, at the end of the same 19th century? Life in medieval castles was hard and without comforts. The King of France during the Hundred Years War, having established the Order of the Star, was forced to place servants at the exit from the banquet hall, who shouted after those who came out: "The King does not want to urinate on the stairs!" And it is unlikely that Maurice Druyun, who described this scene in his novel "The Cursed Kings," sinned against the truth. There are many miniatures of that time, confirming the rudeness of the customs of that time. Although, on the other hand, not everything was "so bad." For example, regarding the same are clean. King John Lackland, for example, took a hot bath every week, costing the treasury the same as the daily wages of an English artisan. And in 1776, in New England estates (these are, admittedly, not castles, but still interesting), the servants were required to wash twice a year, and they washed in the room allotted for them in troughs, where water from the first floor to the third was carried by wooden buckets. That is, it still seems to be that people have been quite … "wild" recently. But already on the eve of the twentieth century, a lot began to change. Including, as we have already seen this, in the castles of Europe, where the castle Gluboka has its own telegraph, heating with hot air and other amenities.
Old and new: the castle is deep against the backdrop of the cooling towers of the Temelin nuclear power plant. The NPP cooling towers are visible 30 km away, and a couple of them - 70 km away!
However, alas, for a significant part of the year all these luxurious apartments were empty, and the kitchen worked for only a few servants who watched the castle. The fact is that the Schwarzenbergs never lived in their castles all year round! On Christmas day, the prince and his family went to the Třebo castle, from which in January he left for Vienna, where at that time the high season began with balls and receptions. Only in mid-May, tired of the court bustle, the princely family left Vienna and went to the castle to rest.
Coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family in 1792.
Well, and the head of a Turk in the castle can be seen in various places …
The family was large, and each of its members rested at their own discretion and interests. And everyone's place was different, so sometimes family members did not see each other for a long time, although they lived nearby. They lived in a castle in Libiejovice or in the Red Court near Cesky Krumlov, where a tennis court was equipped at the beginning of the 20th century. But when autumn came, relatives, friends and invited guests came to the Gluboka castle, surrounded by forests, to hunt for the beast that had eaten over the summer.
And this is a gargoyle. And what romantic castle can do without them? If you build your own, the easiest way to get acquainted with the exhibition samples is in the exposition of the museum of the castle of Carcassonne, in the south of France, where it is easy to measure them from all sides.
Prince Jan-Adolph II, first of all, was fond of hunting and horseback riding (well, what can you do if he was brought up like that and found pleasure in killing defenseless animals), while his brother Felix loved to fish, but the youngest brother Friedrich, who later became cardinal, he loved to climb mountains, that is, to go in for mountaineering. Each lady also had her own hobbies. For example, Princess Paulina, the wife of Prince Joseph, from early childhood showed herself in the visual arts and graphics, but Princess Theresa loved to embroider, which was considered a very worthy occupation for women of her circle.
Probably, most of all, in the interiors of the castle, visitors are struck by the carved wooden ceilings. In other castles, they are painted, caisson with paintings, but here in most rooms there is one solid carving.
In Gluboka, the Schwarzenberg family spent the entire "Indian summer" in September, and in early October there was a big hunt, which attracted many guests. In 1878, Archduke Rudolph arrived in Gluboka with his sister Gisela and her husband, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, who came here again in 1882. It was customary for noble visitors to sign the castle's hunting book, which has survived to this day. Therefore, today we know that, in addition to family members, six pairs of princely families, six pairs of counts and more than two dozen other high-ranking persons were present at one of the hunts. They could hunt for a whole week, from six to seven days. From the records it is known that in just one such hunt, its participants killed 204 large wild animals, 2107 hares, 101 pheasants, 959 partridges, 6 rabbits, 17 crows (for fun, of course!), And a few more owls and many other feathered game - only 95 pieces. The hunt solemnly began near the castle itself, where at the end of the hunt, the attendants brought the hunting prey. The most attractive trophy specimens were dissected and attached to them tablets indicating when and by whom this animal was taken. So, walking through the chambers of the castle, we can easily find out which of its inhabitants or guests this trophy belongs to.
The walls of the rooms are also decorated with painted earthenware plates of the 17th – 18th centuries, produced by the famous Delft manufactories.
Reading room with Delft plates on the walls.
In addition to the gentlemen, from twenty to thirty permanent servants lived in the castle at that time. But for large-scale hunting celebrations or, for example, for the golden wedding of Prince Adolf-Josef and his wife Princess Ida, additional personnel with a total number of up to 200 people were recruited from the surrounding residents. In addition to the hunters and beaters, the chapel of the Krumlov princely guard, which was located on … the main tower of the castle, and from there sounded fanfares in the hunting horns, were necessarily invited. Moreover, the permanent staff had their own dining room, and another dining room in the semi-basement of the castle served for hunters. Accordingly, for the gentlemen of the rutting participants, a hunting dining room was arranged on the first floor of the castle, or they gathered for a gala dinner in the Great dining room in the representative chambers of the castle. The castle had many private apartments for distinguished guests and relatives, and each of them also had small dining rooms. Well, during the golden wedding, a festive table was laid for 127 people in the riding hall.
The space of the caissons is filled with painted gilded leather!
In addition to the constant contingent of castle servants, each family member had their own servants who accompanied them on all trips. For example, in 1935, in the Schwarzenberg annual magazine, it was recorded that the family of the last owner of the castle of Gluboka, Adolf Schwarzenberg and his wife Hilda, had nine permanent servants, including a personal servant, a personal servant, a cook, two maids, a maid, a keeper of a hunting lodge and two chauffeurs.
A small chest made of turtle shell and decorated with brass decorations is made in the Renaissance style.
Princess Eleanor's bed.
When the prince's family was absent, residents of the nearby village of Zamoć were allowed to pass through the park in order to shorten the road to the market in Hluboka. The arrival of the gentlemen was announced one day before by raising a flag on one of the towers. Moreover, if the flag was raised on a large tower, then everyone understood that the prince himself was coming, and if on the tower to the right of the gate, then - the prince-heir and princesses. In this case, the passage through the public of the park was closed, and benches for ladies were brought out on its alleys.
The hunting dining room is decorated with trophies and antler chandeliers.
Many walking paths were laid in the park, and entrances for carriages and carriages were made. In addition, according to the fashion of that time, various "romantic" buildings were made in it, for example, a Chinese pavilion or an arched bridge under the castle by the Vltava River.
The ceiling in the Arsenal has already been described here, but now you can see it. In the center is the famous "garlic", which, for example, in the "gangs" of Italian condottieri on the battlefield was scattered by a special soldier - "florist". He received a double salary as a swordsman with a two-handed sword (!), But in the gangs such soldiers were not liked because of their bad smell, since most of the "flowers" were smeared with pig dung. Well, it was very dangerous for the "florists" to fall into the hands of the enemy. There is an engraving "The Death of a Florist", in which he is executed by pulling the horizontal one by a rope thrown over his copulatory organs.
What did the Schwarzenbergs do in the castle besides hunting? For example, the reigning prince devoted his pre-noon time to the affairs of managing the economy. Officials from His Highness's Office of Affairs came to him for a report and reported on income and expenses. He was then given morning mail, including requests for financial support. I had to delve into all the little things, to understand the indicators of soil fertility and market prices for grain, the required amount of hops for each decaliter of beer and the amount of silage eaten by cows and pigs on the farms of the castle.
One of the treasures of the castle's weapons collection is this armor by the master Hans Ringler from Augsburg, made by him around 1560. This is a blackened half-armor, decorated with both silvering and gilding!
As you know, the Schwarzenbergs were Anglomaniacs, which was not only reflected in the architecture of the castle itself, but also in a funny way manifested itself in the gradual postponement of lunch time. At first they dined in the castle at two in the afternoon, but then the time of dinner was moved to the evening, following the example of the English "dinner". It was customary to serve morning tea to each member of the family separately, but at one o'clock in the afternoon, the whole family gathered for a common light afternoon snack.
Even simple flint hunting rifles were transformed in the hands of craftsmen into genuine works of art.
After an afternoon snack, it was customary to rest, and the rest in Gluboka was active: horseback riding and walking in the park. But in the evening the family gathered in one of the luxurious rooms of the castle and played … a game of charades or syllables and words. It was customary to walk in the early morning barefoot in the dew! Moreover, this tradition was especially actively supported by Prince Adolf II on the advice of the physician Vincenz Prisnits. He walked, however, always accompanied by a hunter with a loaded gun in case he suddenly met some beautiful wild animal, his brother Felix went to the Vltava and the ponds to fish, and Friedrich, the future cardinal, loved to walk in the mountains. Later, already in the rank of cardinal, he wrote in his letter to his elder brother: "How good it would be for me now in the meadows and in the forests in Gluboka, Libyevitsy, Krumlov." That is, the brothers loved nature and knew how to enjoy its beauty!
Another entertainment was theatrical performances in the own castle theater in the large hall on the second floor, to which friends and acquaintances from the same social level were invited. The fact is that the roles in these performances were played, in addition to the hired actors, by the members of the prince's family or their close friends, and acting in front of strangers would be simply unforgivable. Home balls were very popular, at which young aristocrats of the opposite sex met, who would otherwise be very difficult to find and choose a mate.
But this is the gorget of the period of the Thirty Years War - almost everything that eventually remained of the knight's armor. True, it is adorned with blackening and gilding, that is, it clearly belonged not to an ordinary soldier, but to an officer! This time is also characterized by this sword with numerous processes of the cross and a blunt heel on the blade between them. This type of epee is known as the Pappenheimer. It was named so in honor of Gottfried Pappenheim, the commander-in-chief of the troops of the Catholic League during the Thirty Years' War.
But the roads at that time were traditionally bad, alas. Therefore, travel from one castle to another was associated with significant difficulties and costs, which is why the visits were delayed for a long time, as, incidentally, was the case everywhere. Remember how long the relatives stayed with the planters in Margaret Mittchell's Gone with the Wind and it turns out that everything was the same here and there. The time was like that. Well, the guest rooms in Gluboka and in other Schwarzenberg castles even bore generic names, so that the servants in the same kitchen could easily navigate what to carry and to whom, and where, to whom and what to serve.
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing once again that if you are going to visit the Czech Republic, you should definitely visit the Hluboká Castle, because the beauty is worth seeing!
