Seminary or Lower Castle - Vipava

The Lower Castle stands above the spring of the Vipava River called Podfarovž. Like the old (upper) castle, it was probably built as early as in the 12th century, probably in the form of two tall buildings connected with the inner courtyard, which were the seat of the estates of the Counts of Bogen and the Counts of Andechs; it is first mentioned in sources in 329 as castrum inferius. After 1269, the Lower Castle and the associated estate became the property of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and in the 14th century it was claimed several times by the Counts of Gorizia; it was also owned by them in 1500, when it was inherited by the Habsburgs. In the second half of the 15th century, the fief was run by the Counts of Thurn, and at the end of the 15th century it was probably further fortified against Turkish invasions; in 1528, the combined estate of the upper and lower castles became the ownership of barons of Lanthieri. Probably in the second half of the 16th century they thoroughly modified the Lower Castle into a single building, which was the main seat of the family around 1659, and then built a new, more comfortable and luxurious mansion in the present-day Central Square. The Lower Castle is said to have become the property of the Krka diocese around 1700, and after the reforms by Joseph II it became a parish. A seminary was built next to it around the mid-19th century. There was a poorhouse in the Lower Castle in the interwar period, and apartments after the Second World War. After 1950, it was renovated for the needs of the seminary, and since 2001 it has housed the dormitory of the Diocesan Gymnasium Vipava. The building built on bedrock is of irregular shape, because it adapts to the diverse terrain. The small seminary, a two-storey classicist building next to the Lower Castle, was built between 1845 and 1860. It was commissioned by the dean of Vipava Jurij Grabrijan, and initially it also took over the role of the parish. There is also his portrait, the work of Mihael Stroj, in the building.