published September 7, 2023
Clam Castle, and Carl Philip (Count) Clam-Martinic & Nikolaus Lobkowicz
On one of the many ancestral portraits that can be seen in the museum at Clam Castle, you can see one of the ancestors of the young Count Carl-Philipp zu Clam-Martinic - about whose ancestor I hear the following remarkable anecdote during my first visit to Clam Castle: "I was born in Clam. anecdote during my first visit to Clam Castle:
As was customary among the higher nobility at the time, the marriage of Count Carl-Philipp's ancestor had also been arranged by the rulers of his time on the basis of various power-political considerations. and now he had come to meet his young bride, who also came from one of the high houses of her Italian fatherland.
The very first impression, however, was disastrous, especially as Count Carl Philipp's ancestor, due to a tragic-comic chain of coincidences, met his promised young lady in flagrante delicto. Count Carl Philipp's ancestor found the young lady he had been promised in flagrante delicto. Suitably snubbed, he then insisted to his tormented father-in-law father-in-law that the young woman would spend at least three months in a monastery for purification.
Afterwards they married and then, despite the adverse circumstances of their first meeting, apparently led a happy marriage, as the Count relates with a quiet smile. tells us with a quiet smile. As soon as one gets to know Count Carl Philipp a little better, one suspects that he likes this story not not because it is disreputable, but rather because of the beautiful testimony to forgiveness, transformation and true love that can be read between the lines, transformation and true love. The setting for his tale is the spacious, charming and, despite its gothic respectability, absolutely cosy premises of absolutely cosy rooms at Clam Castle.
Count Carl Philipp offers these at extremely fair conditions for groups who want to hold seminars, workshops, product presentations etc. there in absolute exclusivity, product presentations, etc. - as can be seen, for example, casteletto.com/clam
The prerequisite for such an event to take place, however, is that Count Carl-Philipp is sympathetic to both the inquirer and their the requesting party as well as their request. An event is always really successful when even well-paying customers feel like particularly valued guests," says the count.
Weddings, festivities and various receptions are held at Burg Clam time and again; especially famous are, of course, the magnificent concerts that take place below the castle. concerts that take place below the castle - this year, among others, with Hubert von Goisern and Simply Red. The imposing The imposing castle sits high on a rock above the gorge to which both the castle and the family that has lived there for centuries owe their name. family that has lived there for centuries.
When I jokingly ask the count during dinner, which we are having outdoors - at the edge of the aforementioned (quite dizzying) gorge, whether one of his three children has already fallen down there, he replies with a grin that they regularly run down there - they are very close to nature. It would not be surprising if a certain fearlessness with regard to steep challenges were in the genes of this family. not surprising - one of this count's ancestors was thrown out of the window of the so-called Prague Castle a little over 400 years ago. This window also lies above a rather steep, 21-metre-deep rocky precipice. That ancestor of the count sitting opposite me, a certain Jaroslav Count Borzita of Martinic, was at that time killed by a few leaders of a in anger at his role as a representative of the emperor hated by the Protestants, who was hostile to their cause. Amazingly, all three survived the fall all three survived the fall and then hid with my own ancestor, Polyxena Lobkowicz, whose house was below the castle. This brave and quick-witted lady quickly locked two of the three in a cupboard, and told the third to slip under her hoop skirt, and when the murderous pursuers, who appeared shortly afterwards, harangued her to reveal the hiding place of the fugitives, she answered only the fugitives' hiding place, she replied only with condescending mockery:
Two are sitting there in the cupboard and, haha, I have one here under my skirt. Do you want to look?
The fact that the pursuers then moved on in shame suggests on the one hand a general understanding of values that was probably still very intact at the time - and on the other hand speaks volumes about my personality.
While I am still reflecting on the amazing shared past of our ancestors, my host is already talking about what he calls "the meaning of life" - his relationship with Jesus. He talks about his conversion, and his new excitement about this all-defining all-defining relationship which, he says, has pretty much turned his life upside down. From what he tells, it is clear that his faith in the living Jesus is also his first priority. And the way he talks about it is quite inspiring.
When I ask him whether his priorities sometimes conflict with his life's work as the owner of such a lavish historical property as Clam Castle, he freely admits that this is certainly the case.
It becomes clear that he is prepared to face and endure these conflicts - and this inner attitude makes him similar to his historical ancestor.
"Who do you belong to, and who don't you belong to?" is the motto above one of the many doors in Clam. the fortified property is testimony to the fact that the Counts of Clam-Martinice at Clam Castle have not only recently come to see themselves above all as the custodians of an object whose true owner is the owner of the castle. as the stewards of an object whose true owner has been the meaning of their lives for generations... and still is.
