Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape
The Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape is a cultural-natural landscape complex of in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It comprises the municipalities of Lednice, Valtice and Hlohovec, and the rural area of Břeclav.
In 1996, the Lednice-Valtice Area was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its unique mix of Baroque, Neoclassical, and neo-Gothic architecture, and its history as a cultural landscape designed intentionally by a single family. It is adjacent to the Pálava Landscape Protected Area, a biosphere reserve registered by UNESCO several years before. The close proximity of two cultural landscapes protected by UNESCO is unique.
History
The House of Liechtenstein acquired Valtice Castle in 1249, which marked the beginning of their settlement in the area. It remained the principal Liechtenstein residence for 700 years, until 1939 and World War II. Valtice Castle was expanded in late Romanesque style in the first half of the 13th century, but was badly damaged in the Hussite Wars and later rebuilt by Charles I, Prince of Liechtenstein, in the Baroque style. From the 14th century, Lednice was a fortified manor belonging to the Valtice estate and from 1680 it was expanded into a palace that was redesigned in a Tudor Gothic Revival style between 1846 and 1858 by Prince Aloys II.17th–19th centuries
The Princes of Liechtenstein transformed their properties Feldsberg and Eisgrub into one large and designed private park between the 17th and 20th centuries. During the 19th century, the princes continued transforming the area as a large traditional English landscape park. Feldsberg was part of Austria until 1919, Eisgrub part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, both member states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Habsburg rule, with the Austrian-Bohemian border running through the park between the two castles. The 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain stipulated that the city of Feldsberg, which in 1910 was about 97% inhabited by German-speaking Lower Austrians, became part of Czechoslovakia.The Baroque and neo-Gothic architecture of the chateaux are married with smaller buildings and a landscape that was fashioned according to the English principles of landscape architecture.
In 1715 these two chateaux were connected by a 7 km long landscape avenue and road, later renamed for the poet Petr Bezruč, due to his poem Valčice describing a journey to Lednice after tasting vine in Valtice. Whilst both Lednice and Valtice have grown since then, and the road doesn't connect the chateaux as once intended, a large part of this avenue remains in use to this day. The Lednice Ponds are situated between the town of Valtice and villages of Lednice and Hlohovec; as are the Mlýnský, Prostřední, Hlohovecký, and Nesyt Ponds. A substantial part of the cultural landscape complex is covered in pine forests, known as the "Pine−wood", and in areas adjacent to the Thaya River with riparian forests.
20th century
In 1918 the region became part of new Czechoslovakia. The Liechtenstein family opposed the annexation of Czech territory into Sudetenland by Nazi Germany, and as a consequence their properties were confiscated by the Nazis, and the family then relocated to Vaduz in 1939. After World War II the Beneš decrees resulted in the confiscation of all Liechtenstein property in Czechoslovakia, as the family is seen as German in nationality to this day by the Czech state. The family made several legal attempts for restitution of the properties, but the communist regime was not interested in restitution of property to exiled aristocracy.After the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Liechtenstein descendants again renewed attempts for restitution, which were repeatedly denied by the Czech state, the present day owner of the properties.
Features
The principal elements are:- Chateau Valtice and its contiguous town of Valtice
- Lednice Castle and its contiguous village of Lednice
- The village of Hlohovec
Pavilions and follies
In addition to the castles, there are many large to small residential pavilions located throughout the designed landscape, often serving as chateau or hunting lodges.The Colonnade − Rajsna— a Neoclassical colonnade on the top of a hill ridge above Valtice from the 1810s to 1820sBelvedere
— a belvedere landscape element.Rendezvous
— a hunting lodge in a form of a Neoclassical arch from the 1810sSt Hubert Chapel
— a Gothic Revival column structure from the 1850s dedicated to the patron saint of hunters, situated in the Pine woodBorder House
— a Classicist chateau built in the 1820s directly on the former borderline between Lower Austria and MoraviaTemple of the Three Graces
— a semicircle gallery with allegorical statues of Sciences and Muses and a statue of the Three Graces from the 1820sPond House
— at the shore of one of the Lednice PondsNový dvůr — a Neoclassical farm finished in 1809, originally used for sheep husbandry, nowadays for horse breedingApollo Temple
— a Neoclassical hunting lodge from the 1810s, ashore of one of the Lednice PondsHunting Lodge
— a Neoclassical house from 1806John's Castle
— a Gothic Revival style folly of "artificial ruins" in style of a castle, finished in 1810Minaret
— a Moorish Revival style "minaret" observation tower high, located in the Lednice Castle garden, that provides a view of the entire landscape. On clear days the Pálava Hills and Malé Karpaty Mountains can also be seen from the towers.Obelisk
— an obelisk erected in memory of the peace treaty of Campo Formio, the last remaining of the many obelisks originally built by the Liechtensteins in the area.Pohansko
— an Empire-style hunting lodge finished after 1812, it houses an exhibition of Břeclav Town Museum:
close to the lodge there are both an important archaeological site of Great Moravian remains and reconstructed parts of the Czechoslovak border fortificationsLány
— an Empire-style hunting lodge from the beginning of the 19th century