Predjama Castle

Predjama Castle is built into the mouth of a cave halfway up a sheer limestone cliff, about 123 metres high, in the karst country of south-western Slovenia. Seen from the road, its white Renaissance facade seems to grow out of the rock, with the dark opening of the cave arching over its roof; behind it, the rooms run back into the mountain. Its name is literal: "pred jamo" means "in front of the cave". The site has been fortified for more than 800 years, and the operator presents it as the largest cave castle in the world, a title recognised by Guinness World Records.

A castle here is first recorded in 1274, under the German name Luegg, as a Gothic stronghold belonging to the Patriarch of Aquileia, tucked beneath the natural rock arch where it was almost impossible to attack. Its best-known lord was Erasmus of Lueg, a 15th-century knight who fell out with the Habsburg emperor Frederick III, allied himself with the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus and raided imperial lands from this refuge. The story told of him is part history and part legend. Besieged for more than a year, he is said to have kept himself supplied through a natural shaft behind the castle that opened onto the top of the cliff, The popular version of his death, which historians do not accept, has a servant betray him to the besiegers, who killed him with a cannon shot while he was in the privy.

The medieval castle was destroyed after the siege, and a later one fell in an earthquake in 1511. The building visitors see today dates from 1570, when the Renaissance castle was built against the cliff below the old fortification, and it has changed little since. The Cobenzl family used it as a summer residence in the 18th century; the Windischgrätz family owned it from 1846 until the end of the Second World War, after which it was nationalised and turned into a museum. Inside, the rooms climb through the building to the remains of the older cave fortress at the top. Beneath the castle lies an extensive cave system on four levels, the second-longest in Slovenia; it is home to bat colonies and, according to the operator, opens for tours only from June to August so as not to disturb them during hibernation.

Getting there

Predjama is about 9–11 km from the town of Postojna and its famous cave, and about 39 km from Ljubljana; the Italian city of Trieste is closer in a straight line, about 33 km, but Ljubljana is the usual base. Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) is about 52 km away. Postojna is less than an hour from Ljubljana on the A1 motorway and has train and bus connections from the capital; in high season a shuttle runs from Postojna Cave to the castle, a ride of up to 20 minutes. Otherwise the castle is reached by car or taxi, as the road has no footpath.