Viltuš Mansion, Mansion in Selnica ob Dravi, Slovenia
The Viltuš Mansion is a multi-winged building on the Drava plain in Selnica ob Dravi, first mentioned in 1588. Its present look dates from a 1902 rebuild in romantic historicism, with a veranda and a massive tower with four corner turrets and a steep tent roof. The complex is over 80 metres wide, mostly two or three storeys, with a crippled hipped roof and a two-storey annex with a round corner turret toward the Drava.
The mansion was first documented in 1588, when the Herberstein noble family bought it. Around 1750 Anton Graf von Rabatta added the western chapel wing with its hinted onion dome. In 1902 Ottokar Maria Badl rebuilt it in the style of romantic historicism, adding the veranda and the massive tower with four corner turrets. It is a Slovenian cultural monument of national significance.
The name Wildhaus likely derives from the German for "wild house". Franz Liszt stayed overnight in 1846 while Eduard von Lannoy arranged a concert tour of Styria for him; Lannoy married here in 1819 with Archduke Johann as witness. The park, laid out in the romantic style around 1900, holds exotic trees such as Taxodium distichum and Magnolia macrophylla.
The mansion itself is closed to the public and unmaintained; only the park around it is publicly accessible. A newer connecting road has split the former English landscape park into two separate parts, so the grounds are reached on foot from the surrounding area. The old hilltop castle, now a ruin, lies about 15 minutes' walk north of the mansion.
The interior furnishings, including a collection of knight's armour, disappeared after the Magerl family lost the mansion; only rare surviving photographs show the marble fireplaces and carved wooden ceilings. The state paid the heirs 700,000 euros in 2008 to settle their restitution claim.
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