Owners of castles and mansions at Semič throughout centuries

Abstract

The article gives a short review of both the history of five castles and mansions at Semič and their owners throughout centuries. The Semenič Castle was probably raised at the summit of the Semič Mountain above the village of Gaber already in the mid-12^th century. It was owned by the family of the Semenič knights. In the 16^th century the family built a new, more comfortable mansion, Semenič or simply Semič, on the slope above Gaber, just below the old one. The old castle became a ruin at the beginning of the 17^th century. In the 16^th century the Semenič family built another, i.e. Smuk mansion on the summit of the Semič Mountain. In the village of Vrtača, the family built the Pristava mansion, which in the 18^th century replaced the Semič mansion above Gaber as the administrative centre of the seigniory. The mansions were handed over to the family of Counts Lichtenberg, which added the Turn or Pungrt mansion to the whole seigniory, but at the end of the 19^th century, the entire estate exchanged several owners and all mansions, little by little, disappeared.