This property is one of the few castle-hotels in the country. The property, surrounded by magnificent natural surroundings, was built in the 17th century and became the successive possession of several aristocratic families of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the romantic park, deer live freely, as well as the wine estate, which can be visited on foot and by bicycle. Inside, the rooms are spacious, tastefully decorated and equipped with authentic antique furniture and accessories, single or double beds, where the patina of the past revives the aristocratic ways of life of yesteryear. The restaurant offers residents and visitors gourmet menus.
Dvorac Bežanec History
The Bezanec castle and park are located in Valentinovo near Pregrada on a small hill in the vicinity of the Plemenscina stream, from where you can see a picturesque Kostelska valley.
The castle was built at the end of the 17th century as a four-storey building with a court. In the thirties of the 19th century it was renovated in the spirit of classicism thus becoming one of the most representative courts of our country. In the center of all facades rise triangular gables in the roof area. A tower clock is located above the main facade, a reminder of the old castle towers. The facades are interrupted by pilasters, decorated with high altitudes on the main south-east side and loggias on the second floor and open arcades on the ground floor on the south-west side. The facades of the courtyards are opened by arcades. The castle is a monument of world cultural heritage. It is accessed through the 90 m long Ash Maple Street, which was developed after 1911. It is not known when the park was established. In 1861 there was a park to the northeast of the castle. There are two phases in the development of the park. The earliest corresponds to the time of the renovation of the castle - the 30s of the 19th century. Then, a small park of 1220 m2 developed behind the castle. Today, there are still some trees from that period in it - ginkgo, linden and buttonballs. The second phase belongs to the period between 1900 and 1911, when the entrance portal was built, the hedge around the park was cut, fir trees were planted along the road, and a park of 3100 m2 was developed in the area south of the castle. The stone retaining wall near the road, south of the castle, existed before 1900.
Once upon a time, a park was carefully maintained. Nada and Cecille Ottenfels recall the park in the 1930s when there were annual flowers, rhododendrons, azaleas, jasmine, syringes, earthen boxes, roses, laurels and pal's. The southeast facade was covered with clematis and Japanese roses and pelargoniums were on the balcony. In addition to a three-hundred-year-old linden tree, the park had the following trees: Caucasian fir, ginkgo, Catawba tree, buttonballs, poplars, and other types of trees. Six girls from the village took care of the palm trees in the castle in the second half of the nineteenth century. Three of them watered the palms daily in the summer and the other three took care of them and warmed the orangery in the winter. The Bezanec estate was owned by the Counts Keglevic, then by a Baron Kollenbach, a Baron Schlaum-Linden and finally by a Baron Ottenfels-Gschwind. The castle belonged to the Ottenfels family, originally from Carinthia, for the longest period.
Ottenfels was awarded a knighthood of the German Empire in 1653 and in 1696 they were accepted into Kranj and in 1698 Styrian orders. In 1710 Wolf Jakob Ottenfels obtained an Austrian barony. His son Franz Otto inherited in 1751 from his uncle Johann Martin Baron Gschwind, an imperial field marshal and the last of his line, the Ottenfels-Gschwind properties and surname.
There were two people in the family whose names were particularly linked to to the castle - Franjo Ksaver (1778 - 1851) and his wife Josipa, born Baroness Schlaum-Linden.
Franjo Ksaver was Austrian ambassador to Constantinople (1822-1833) and Metternich's advisor in Vienna (1833-1846). He had an excellent knowledge of Oriental antiquities. He had a large collection of Oriental documents that his eponymous nephew deposited in the Zagreb State Archives in 1942. Various stories are connected with the name of Josipa Ottenfels. She lived in Bezanec from 1842 until her death in 1885, when she was buried with her family in the parish church in Pregrada. She was stubborn and all family members had to obey her. During her stay in Bezanec, the castle was constantly repaired and renovated, and the scaffolding remained there for decades. The story goes that during her journey from Constantinople a gypsy woman predicted that she would live as long as she built. In 1842 trunks arrived from Constantinople with furniture and carpets that she did not have time to open during her lifetime. After Josipa's death, Persian carpets, paintings and furniture were taken from the trunks. Especially significant among them was a blue velvet-covered sofa with golden embroidery given to Franjo Ksaver by a Turkish vizier.
Bezanec Castle was often adapted according to the ideas of the retroactive owners. Being a neglected cultural monument since 1964, it experienced a high-quality improvement in 1990.
Thanks to the current owner, Sinisa Krizanec, who took the freedom to give a purpose to the property, to plan, finance everything thus creating a priority business function that allows the maintenance of one of the most beautiful classicist representatives of monumental architectural heritage. Following the rules of restoration, once a family castle was adapted to the most purposeful way of high quality presentation through a tourist receptive revaluation of the present time.