| 1876 print FRANKOPAN CASTLE ON TRSAT, RIJEKA, CROATIA, #13 |
Nice view titled Fiume: Le chateau de Frangipani vu de l'escalier du Terzato, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, approx. page size is 29 x 19.5 cm, approx. image size is 23.5 x 16 cm. From Le Tour du Monde, French 19th century illustrated magazine.
Trsat Castle
Trsat Castle (Croatian: Gradina Trsat) is a castle in Trsat,
Croatia. It is thought that the castle lies at the exact spot of an ancient
Illyrian and Roman fortress. The Croatian noble Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried in
one of the churches. The Trsat castle was completely reconstructed and renovated
in the 19th century when the mausoleum of the military commander Laval Nugent
was built in its interior. The courtyard of the castle has now been turned into
a restaurant and many tourists visit the place during the summer months.
History
The thirteenth century Trsat castle, whose site has been in use from Roman days
for being an easy place from which to control access to the sea along the
Rječina River, is situated on the steep hill overlooking the Rječina gorge on
its left bank, just above the town of Rijeka. It may be that a Iapodian
hill-fort, Darsata, used to be there, after which the Roman fortification
Tarsatica was named. This Roman fort was of vital importance on a road that
connected Aquileia to Pannonia and Senia (Senj). It was owned by Frankopan
family who built the present castle, on the site occupied by the Illirian
Tarsatica, to protect their holdings in Vinodol.
The capture of the Castle of Trsat compelled the Ban of Croatia, Andrew Bot of
Bajna (Bajna is a village in Hungary, near Esztergom)), to intervene in the
Austro-Venetian war, and in June 1509 he first recaptured Trsat with his
Croatian army and then entered Rijeka after expelling the Venetians. In October
1509, the Venetians withdrew for good and Rijeka returned to the possessions of
Maximilian of Habsburg. This notable episode is the sole event which links
Rijeka with Venice, and consequently with Italy, during the whole of its history
from the 7th century on.
In the 17th century the castle fell into decay due to the receding threats from
Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Its decline was accelerated by the earthquake of
1750. In the year 1811, during the Napoleonic wars, Captain Hoste in pursuit of
the French, arrived with his frigate at Fiume where he made himself
lieutenant-governor. The situation in Trieste soon drew him away, but in 1826 he
had the satisfaction of handing the castle over to Field-Marshal Nugent, an
Irishman then commanding the Austrian troops in the vicinity, for the purpose of
conferring on him the rank of an Austrian noble. The general was later honoured
by the Austrians and presented with the castle at Trsat as his residence. He had
it restored in Neo-Gothic style and built a mausoleum adorned with the coat of
arms of the Nugent family. It remained in the Nugent family until nearly the end
of the Second World War when the general's great-granddaughter, Countess Nugent,
died at the age of 82.