Rajhenburg, the Trappists' castle above the Sava

A castle from 1131 above the Sava

According to its official website, Archbishop Konrad of Salzburg had the castle built between 1131 and 1147, and the Romanesque core, the oldest part, dates from then. For centuries it was run by stewards who took the name of the place, Reichenburg, and who were knighted in the 15th century. When their line died out, their successors kept adding to it until it looked as it does now.

The site explains everything. It stands on a rocky spur 60 metres above the meeting of the Brestanica stream and the Sava River, commanding the valley. Brestanica, the village below, has 896 residents and belongs to Krško municipality.

Monks, deportees and prisoners

In 1881 Trappist monks bought the castle and turned it into a monastery. That was the era of chocolate, cheese, liqueurs and sparkling wine, which still give their names to the castle’s festivals. In April 1941 the German authorities turned the castle and its outbuildings into a deportation camp for Slovenes. In 1947 the order was dissolved and the castle nationalised, and in June 1948 a women’s prison opened there, followed by other penal institutions.

Since 1968 it has housed an exhibition on the Slovene deportees. In 2004, once denationalisation was settled, it passed to Krško municipality, and between 2010 and 2012 it was fully restored. Today it’s run by Kulturni dom Krško, the town’s cultural centre.

What to see at Rajhenburg Castle

Much more than you’d guess from outside. There are two chapels, the original 12th-century Romanesque one and a 16th-century Gothic addition, a large Renaissance hall that ends in a frescoed room, and a Great Hall with a four-paned Gothic window and stone cross. National Museum of Contemporary History displays cover the Trappists, the deportees and the prison years, and there’s furniture from the collections of the National Museum of Slovenia.

I like the local touches too, such as the old postcards of Brestanica and the Olympic and world championship medals of hammer thrower Primož Kozmus, the village’s most famous sportsman. The building is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility.

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Chocolate, wine and weddings

The Trappist legacy is still alive. A herb garden was planted in 2014, there’s a wine gallery in the cellar and the shop sells Brestanica chocolate. Through the year the castle hosts the Rajhenburg Chocolate and Liqueurs Day and the Sparkling Wine and Cheese Day. It has a café and can be hired for weddings.

Fitting it into a Posavje trip

Rajhenburg sits in the heart of Posavje, the region with the most preserved castles for its size, according to the tourist board. I’d visit in the morning, then head upstream to Sevnica Castle or downstream to Brežice, and end the day in the pools at Čatež.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Rajhenburg Castle and pick one that fits your day.

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