On top of a rocky outcrop above Lake Bled, one of the loveliest monuments in our country rises towards the sky: Bled Castle. The buildings of the castle complex are arranged around two courtyards, which are connected by a staircase.
 

Bled Castle in the past

In 1004, when the German emperor Henry II presented the Bled estate to the Brixen bishop Albuin, most probably only a Romanesque tower stood on the site of today's castle, protected by a wall towards the gentle ridge of the castle hill. In the high Middle Ages further towers were added and the fortification system was perfected. Of interest is the entrance through the outer wall with a Gothic arch and a drawbridge over the now filled-in moat. The buildings added in the Baroque period completed the architectural development of the castle complex. They are arranged around two courtyards: beside the lower one were the farm buildings, and beside the upper one the living quarters. The courtyards were connected by a staircase in the middle of the Baroque wing. The most interesting of the preserved buildings is certainly the chapel in the upper courtyard, dedicated to bishop St Albuin and St Ingenuin. It was created in the 16th century; around 1700 it was baroquised and entirely painted with illusionistic frescoes.  

By the altar the donors of the Bled estate are depicted, the German emperor Henry II and his wife Cunigunde. Fragments of ribs from the demolished Gothic vault are built into the wall of a room in the neighbouring wing, today the museum wing. Numerous coats of arms, painted in fresco technique or carved in stone, adorn the individual castle buildings. On the edge of the upper courtyard stands a lodge, marked on the axonometric plan as a small tower. In 1947, when the castle roof burned down, and at the first post-war archaeological excavation at Bled in 1948, the National Museum proposed the conservation of the castle complex. In the years from 1951–1961 it was restored under the direction of the architect Tone Bitenc, with money from the municipality of Bled, and enhanced with some architectural details.

Bled Castle today

It is arranged as an exhibition building. The rooms in the representative wing beside the chapel, which is the most interesting building, present the oldest history of Bled from the first excavations onwards, and the castle in the individual stages of its historical development, with the furnishings typical of the time. The furnishings are not from Bled Castle, but they are important for illustrating the domestic culture of the periods it lived through. Besides the museum, at the castle you can visit the castle printing works, the castle cellar and the castle herbal gallery, the restaurant, or watch a multivision. Bled Castle attracts visitors with its age, its picturesque architecture and the unforgettable view of Lake Bled and the wider surroundings of Gorenjska. In the summer months the castle atmosphere is enlivened by the lord of the manor with his visit and an archery tournament.
 
The museum at Bled Castle is open:
from 1. 5. to 31.10..:
from 8.00 to 20.00
from 1. 11. to 30. 4.:
from 8.00 to 17.00