Traces of the Valvasor family in the Lower Savinja Valley

Between romances in the Ojstrica castle and the mental hospital in Novo Celje

Abstract

The Carniolan noble family Valvasor, from which the famous polymath Johann Weikhard (1641–1693) descended, is not generally associated with the Lower Savinja Valley. However, during the seventeenth century, the Valvasors, whose principal Castle of Medija (Galleneck) stood not far from the Carniolan-Styrian provincial border, nurtured vibrant contacts with the owners of the Ojstrica (Osterwitz) Castle and seigniory. The branch of the Valvasor fami­ly which took root in the Lower Savinja Valley through Ojstrica was initiated by the polymath’s brother Johann Dietrich, whereas his other brother Wolfgang Barthlomäus spent the final years of his life serving as parish priest in Žalec. The traces of the Valvasor family in the seventeenth century extend from Ojstrica and Vransko in the west, through Kapla pri Taboru, where their principal residence was located, Gomilsko, Braslovče and Prebold to Žalec in the east. The Lower Savinja Valley is also associated with the descendants of the Valvasor family who possessed different names. The last descendant of Johann Weikhard Valvasor living in Slovenia remained confined to the mental hospital in Novo Celje until 1941.