Silver medal Pernštejn Castle 2012 Proof

Pernštejn Castle

The Gothic Pernštejn Castle from the middle of the 13th century stands in the eastern edge of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, in the municipality of Nedvědice, and is undoubtedly one of the most important Moravian castles. Its former sub-castle was a township. The monumental building of the Lords of Pernštejn with a simple bergfrit layout was rebuilt and, above all, extended several times until the 16th century, yet it did not lose its defensibility when transformed into a representative and comfortable residence.

The first historical reference to the castle in historical sources dates back to the end of the 13th century. It was not such a large building, but it had a palace and a tower called Barborka, which towered in the direction of the expected attack. As the power of the Pernštejn family grew and the financial possibilities also grew, a major reconstruction into a representative political and administrative centre took place at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. It is not known where the building work began, perhaps the palace was first enlarged and a new courtyard was built to the south of it. In the 15th century other residential buildings and an outer wall were added. A representative building with the largest room in the castle, called the Knights' Hall, was built in the newly constructed courtyard. Pernštejn covered the tower of Barborka and gained the appearance of a massive and solid building.

Before the arrival of the second half of the millennium, the walls were also extended with effective towers. However, construction did not stop at Pernštejn. A vaulted vault spanned the entrance area on the ground floor. Next, a library and several living rooms were added near the Black Gate. The clerestories of the most varied shapes, bearing bay windows and galleries, so typical of Pernštejn, are outstanding; the higher floors have more volume and surface area than the lower ones. The murals in the bedroom, the children's room and the governess's room date from about the 1860s. The castle chapel of the Conversion of St. Paul was painted in 1716 by František Gregory Ignác Eckstein. At the beginning of the 18th century, the original decoration of the Knights' Hall was supplemented with stucco reliefs by G. A. Corbellini. Pernštejn Castle is interesting for its complex construction development and the transformation of a medieval castle into a baroque Moravian provincial fortress, interesting architectural details and excellent sculptural and pictorial decoration cannot be overlooked. Not only that, but the castle is sometimes called a marble castle because of the abundant use of local, non-Vedic marble in its construction.