Victor and I rented e-bikes from this fit entrepeneur to explore what UNESCO calls the "Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape." Chris stuck with pedal power.
"Cultural landscape" could less diplomatically be described as a royal playground and game preserve for the Liechtenstein dynasty, richly scattered with Baroque and Romantic structures. At least one is an example of a European prince giving his finger to a very short emperor. What does this Temple of Diana remind you of?
Thanks to Chris, seen declaiming below at my request, I now appreciate the structure's political subtext. Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in Paris after successfully laying siege to much of the continent in the early 19th century. The Liechtensteins, among the European nobility who eventually defeated the power mad emperor, likely designed their hunting lodge in part as a "fuck you."
Again, the attention to detail is stunning. Looks like Diana is exhausted from hunting in this oversize medallion.
Why is this satyr rubbing Pan's belly in another one? So much to unpack.
The 60,0000 acre playground, which includes the castles in both Lednice and Valtice, remains home to a wide diversity of plants and animals.
Biking enabled us to see nearly all of it in less than a perfect day.
This chapel, the last structure to be added to the playground in 1855, is dedicated to Hubert, the patron saint of hunters. Quelle surprise. Although to be fair, what else was there for the one-percent to do in the 18th and 19th centuries, other than make war? Too bad about the morning shadows.
Worse, I used an old digital camera, once considered "state-of-the art," to conserve my overworked i-Phone's battery power. The photos sucked.
Other bikers were enjoying the fine autumn weather. A German group posed in front of the Temple of Three Graces.
Athena, Aphrodite and Artemis, sculpted from a single stone, graced the Lednice castle gardens until their nubile curves proved too distracting for the princes. But instead of removing the original mean girls from the male gaze entirely, the Liechtensteins built them a colonnade backdrop.
The Czech stewards keep it in good repair.
Next stop: Apollo's Temple. Grander, of course.
Many of the follies are elevated, to afford views of the fish ponds.
We took a break at Jan's castle, surrounded on three sides by a river. Here's where the Liechtenstein's celebrated the end of the hunting season with a huge banquet.
Plenty of flowers were still in bloom.
The inventor of the pencil designed the minaret which climbs almost 200 feet into the sky. If we had been able to climb to the top, Vienna, 55 miles southwest, might have been visible.
The minaret may have been another of example of the Liechtensteins giving the royal finger. Rumor has it that the prince began erecting it in 1797 after local authorities refused to allow the construction of a church. Has there ever been a taller act of cultural appropriation? At least they imported Arab artists to decorate the mosque on the ground floor, never used for worship, but a beautiful example of Moorish architecture nevertheless.
I learned the physical meaning of "nettled" after an intrepid pursuit of a photo op near this pond.
During an unsuccessful attempt to get a shot of Apollo's Temple across the water, my bare legs stung for the next couple of hours, perhaps because of the nettles that also adhered to my clothing.
We saw the grape harvest in full swing on our ride back to Valtice. Our batteries were still nearly fully charged!
Chris and Victor were kind enough to indulge my passion for cemetery exploration, which also had an historical aspect.
The recent dead were mostly Czech.
But German names and language appeared on many of the older graves. Chris thinks there's an important book to be written about the Allied expulsion of ethnic Germans from the Czech Republic after World War II. It's never gotten much sympathetic attention for obvious reasons but as many as three million--including Florian's grandfather--were literally walked out of small towns and villages where their families had lived for centuries.
Fortunately, the castle at Lednice, less than 10 kilometers northwest of Valtice, was open and the tour included informative English-language handouts.
All three of us were blown away by the stupendous beauty of the castle, its grounds and furnishings.
The princes of Liechtenstein began summering here sometime during the Renaissance but 19th century renovations turned it into a neo-Gothic jewel. The English garden looked vibrant even in fall.
Such exquisite attention to detail. Like the greenhouse filigree
. . . canine gargolyes
. . . stone carving on the hidden rear facade
. . . and the water fountain for the horses!
Lednice castle sits in an extensive architectural park decorated with "follies," including an Indian temple and a minaret. More about them in the next entry.
An outdoor exhibit examined royal European attitudes about race. Nobody's hands are clean, even in countries that banned slavery.
Meanwhile, the princes spent much of their time hunting deer. I've never seen quite so many antlers. It's a wonder there was any venison left for the goulash I ate that night.
Each trophy is engraved with who shot the buck and when.
Odd that nobody claimed the unicorn. Fear of god, perhaps.
Oil portraits of the three princes hang in the ornate entrance hall. Would you believe that chandelier, the castle's largest, is 50 feet long and weighs 1500 pounds?
Note the golden sun on the canopy in the ladies' bedroom.
So princessy!
More antlers in the knight's hall, still lit with candles when World War II forced the Liechtensteins to give up their ancestral home. Can you hear me playing the world's smallest violin? They're currently trying to repossess their castle.
If they succeed, no doubt they'll celebrate in the summer dining room which was used only for that purpose. Check out the pewter dishes
. . . and the thoughtful monkey below.
Dyed suede once covered the walls of the turquoise room. Only fragments remain; the rest has been fabricated by a Belgian company. Somebody should give the castle's florist a raise.
This chandelier hangs from a walnut ceiling. I wonder how much it weighs?
The library continues the turquoise wallpaper motif. That staircase, carved from a single oak tree, is completely self-supporting. Not an iron nail to be found!
This wing altar, carved from ebony and ivory, depicts Christ's family tree.
Marbled bookbinding.
This stunning bouquet decorates the red smoking hall which connects to the greenhouse.
Here's where the horses were stabled.
A truly over-the-top tour. We left wondering why the Lednice castle isn't on a par with the world's other major tourist attractions but thankful that we practically had the place to ourselves. If only the birds of prey demonstration had been open!
