This wooden altar dates from 1453 and was originally
located in Pottendorf Castle. It stands open, almost
like a large book with the front and back of each
leaf painted and gilded.
The chapel was consecrated in 1642. Today, ceremonies like
masses, weddings and baptisms are still held here. Wouldn't
it be fun to get married here?
This clock is gorgeous. Bob took a picture of the side
first to show a beautiful mirror.
This is the front of the clock.
Another beautiful clock.
Looking closely at this globe, I could see a much
different political Europe.
This is royal armor, shield and swords. Without scale
it's difficult to see how small the armor was. I guess
the rulers were as small as their subjects.
I'm reading the brochure in the silver room. This is one
of the largest collections of silver furniture in Europe.
This is just for decoration. It's a gold carriage,
and Bob liked the silly expression on the face of
the central character.
This is the armor Paul Esterhazy wore as a child to
play and to act in theatrics.
I don't know who the lady in the painting is, but
she's the only female painting subject holding a sword.
I took pictures of just a few of the many paintings. Some of the women's portraits really captured my imagination. So many of them died young, probably in childbirth like so many women back then. They would have children from their mid teens until they'd finally die, usually of infection. But then there were so many easy ways to die back then, among them plague and smallpox. I tried to research the women and find out how many children they had and their cause of death, but that information is rarely available unless the woman was a queen. Also note that many of the aristocrats were painted with pet dogs, especially little King Charles Spaniels which were very popular with royalty in those days.
I took this picture because I love the dress. She is
Christina Nyary de Bedegh (1604-1641), who as a young
widow married Count Miklos Esterhazy when she was 14.
She had nine kids before dying young.
This is Ursula Grafin (Countess) Esterhazy (1641-1682).
She was the half-niece of Paul and was married to him
by papal dispensation when she was 11. She had many
children, but the succession came through Paul's second
wife, Eva, so no sons of Ursula survived to adulthood.
This and the next picture are from a bookmark.
This is Anna Julia Esterhazy Nadasdy (1630-1669). One
of Nikolaus Esterhazy's daughters, she was married to
Franz Nadasdy when she was 14. She also died young.
Two years after her death, Franz was executed for treason.
This is another Esterhazy wife - I don't know her name.
I just loved the dress.
Note the "mohawk" haircut on the young boy. This was
a mark of nobility, and lower ranks were forbidden to
have the hairstyle.
An Esterhazy noble. Bob really liked this huge mastiff.
These are two of the children of Nikolaus Esterhazy.
Very few of his children reached adulthood.
This is one of the funniest things we learned. The brochure explained that the Esterhazys were feuding with another aristocratic Hungarian family over who had the most distinguished lineage. The Esterhazys commissioned someone (what do you say? "Help Wanted: someone to make up fake lineage"?) to create a more important genealogy for the Esterhazys, especially in the area where 'who sired who' was a little cloudy (hmm, sounds to me like some illegitimacy was covered up). There is an intricately-painted genealogical chart with some really questionable ancestors. One of the most ludicrous is the subject of the next two pictures - yep, none other than Dracula! Apparently, in the 1600s he was quite famous in central Europe, and that's before they made movies about him! The Esterhazys stuck him on their family tree - with a straight face, I might add - and commissioned this painting. The second picture is a close-up of the text which claims the painting is from 1406, but the guide said it's really from the 1600s.
I call this the last little door. It's situated on a small but
quite thick wall next to a doorway and is about three-and-a-half
feet tall. It's not labeled, and you can't tell what it is by
looking at the other side. I wanted to open it, but my reluctance
to break the rules once again asserted itself. Besides, it had
an old iron icepick-looking thing stuck into the lock and might
not have opened at all. Bob said it probably leads to a secret
staircase, but I think he said that just to fire my imagination.
I immediately conjured up images of midnight trysts and other
nefarious goings-on.
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