Zámek Valtice

A deed from January 1193 already names a fortified settlement here, exchanged between the bishop of Passau and the Seefeld family, who held it until the Liechtensteins took control between 1387 and 1391. When the Liechtensteins lost their nearby seat at Mikulov around 1560, they rebuilt Valtice into a four-wing Renaissance castle and made it their new residence. Successive princes kept reworking the complex over the following two centuries: architect Anton Johannus Ospel added the Winter Riding-Hall and the Spanish Stable in 1713 to 1715, and Antonio Beduzzi decorated the chapel, which still holds a rare organ built by the Viennese organ maker Walther. The old medieval core was finally demolished and the rebuilding completed in 1744 to 1745 under Anton Erhard Martinelli. The Liechtensteins held the estate until it was seized from them in 1945.