Painted courtyard
Arcades and orange painted decoration.
Luka Peternel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Yerpo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Luka Peternel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Yerpo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Luka Peternel — CC BY-SA 4.0
Gewerkenegg Castle is a Renaissance building above the centre of Idrija, now home to the town's municipal museum. It forms part of the mercury heritage of Almadén and Idrija, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2012, and its German name means roughly mine castle. The mine's owners built it between 1522 and 1533 to run their operations, after the discovery of mercury gave rise to the town. By strict castle-study standards it is not a true castle, since no nobles ever lived here and it was not built for defence. Its first role was to store the extracted mercury and food, because Idrija could not be reached in winter. From outside you see large round towers, a clock tower and a red roof, but the surprise is the inner courtyard, with arcades and orange painted decoration across its walls. The museum rooms cover the history of the town and mine and daily life here, including the Idrija lace tradition for which the town is known. The castle lies about 300 m from Anthony's Shaft, so the two pair easily in half a day, and about 37.8 km from Ljubljana in a straight line. The walk up from the centre is short. Give the courtyard some time in the morning, when the light falls well on the painted walls.
Arcades and orange painted decoration.
Big towers looking over the town.
A craft tradition the town is known for.
Prelovčeva ulica 9, Idrija, Slovenia
Not strictly. It was built for storage and management, never housed nobles and was not meant for defence.
Yes, it is about 300 m from Anthony's Shaft, and half a day covers both.
