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First Floor
The Middle Ages
In the 7th and 8th centuries, the Radgona area was part of the great Avarian state, and from the 9th century onwards it was part of the East Frankish Kingdom. After the Hungarian incursions ceased, the great German Empire emerged in the 10th century and its eastern border with Hungary was stabilized east of Radgona. Following the settlement of the Slavs, the Radgona area acquired a Slavic linguistic identity, which in contact with the Germanic/German identity has persisted until the present.
The Radgona area was part of the lands that would become the Duchy of Styria, which was ruled in the 12th and 13th century by the Austrian Dukes of Babenberg and the Bohemian king Otokar II. The estates were confiscated by a coalition of the new German king Rudolf I of Habsburg in 1276. Castles emerged as the real and symbolic centre of political, economic, and military power of a new class of noblemen and knights. The greatest feudal family in the area, until the end of the Middle Ages, were the Counts of Stubenberg.
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The Town and its Citizens
Radgona is first mentioned as a town in written sources in 1299 and it later developed into an important centre for the surrounding area. Because of its strategic position it became one of the most important border posts of Styria. Another important strategic point was the Gornja Radgona Castle, at the time separated from the town by just a small river branch. The suburb of Gris below Castle Hill was connected to the town by a bridge.
At the turn of the 20th century, Gornja Radgona had the appearance of a bourgeois town thanks to the families whose names feature on the tombstones in the formerly common town cemetery. In 1907 Gornja Radgona was elevated to the position of market-town. The image of the former bourgeoisie has faded over the course of time, but Gornja Radgona today remains an important urban centre in this part of Štajerska.
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First Floor
The Religious Image
The inhabitants of the Gornja Radgona area predominantly belong to the Catholic faith. The first document pointing to a church in Radgona is a deed of donation by Duke Ottokar from 1182. The church of St Peter is first mentioned in 1446 and was an independent parish from 1811 onwards. The Catholic Church in Apače, that has Roman architectural elements, became a parish church in 1455. The first church in Negova was built in the 15th century and has been a parish church since 1707.
In the 16th century, Protestantism became a truly popular movement. Karl von Herberstorff had a church and school built in the town in 1582. Both were destroyed in the Counter-Reformation. An Evangelical church has been active in Apače since 1932.
In the 14th century, one of the biggest Jewish communities in Styria lived in Radgona, i.e. until 1496, when all Jews were expelled from Austrian lands.
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First Floor
Witch Trials
Witch trials emerged as a result of the moral decadence and intellectual poverty of the medieval church aristocracy; among the common people, however, superstition was fuelled by their fear of the devil. The major centres of witch trials in Slovenian Styria were Hrastovec, Vurberk, Ormož, Ljutomer, Maribor, Ptuj, Radgona, and Celje. Apolonija Heric from Veržej was the last woman tried for witchcraft at the regional court in Gornja Radgona between 1744 and 1746. She was accused of witchcraft. She was discharged and released from prison, together with her daughter, in 1746.
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First Floor
Wine Growing
At the end of the 11th century, larger vineyards could be found in the greater Radgona area. In the 15th century, Radgona’s wine growing properties were owned by the prince of the Land; later individual wine growing estates were owned by other landlords and church institutions. In the 17th century, the area around Radgona had become a wine growing area. Important changes occurred in the first decades of the 19th century. In 1819, wine growing was strongly promoted by Count Franz Karl Wurmbrand, who established a branch of the Styrian Agricultural Company in Radgona. Franc Jančar, the chaplain of Negova, published a manual entitled The sensible wine grower in 1867. Until the end of the Second World War, a large part of the Radgona vineyards was in the hands of merchants, lawyers and other wealthy members of the bourgeoisie, who all owned vinedresser cottages. Vine-dressing was a very common form of employment in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century.
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Living Spaces
In addition to the dominant castle complex in Gornja Radgona, individual manors and market-town houses have survived into the present, featuring well-preserved architectural elements which bear witness to the financial status of individuals, architects, or builders, who embellished the exteriors of their houses in typically decorative ways. A quite different environment was the hilly countryside around Gornja Radgona with its buildings connected to wine growing. The level of domestic culture can also be seen in the interior furnishings.
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First Floor
Life Cycle
A human’s life cycle is caught in the time span of their existence between birth and death.
Our personal lives have always been defined by three principal milestones: birth, marriage, and death.
Time is an important dimension in our world; everyday life between birth and death is constantly marked by milestones in one’s personal life and annual, calendar, and other family holidays.