CASTLES OF CROATIA 2011 - BILJE

Bilje – the Palace of Prince Eugen of Savoy The palace in Bilje (Hungarian Béllye), about ten kilometres north from Osijek was built in the first half of the 18th century by Prince Franz Eugen of Savoy and Piemont (1663 – 1736). History remembers him as one of the most famous Austrian army generals whose victories marked the final end of Turkish conquests in Europe (by the Treaty in Srijemski Karlovci in 1699 the Turks were forced south of the River Sava into today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina). Bilje (Billie) is mentioned in old documents for the first time in 1212. By 1918 Bilje was in the County of Baranja, within the Pecz diocese. The Palace of the Prince Eugen of Savoy is the best known palace of the Baranja valley, recognisable for its endless wheat fields, lowland woods and gentle wine-reach slopes. It is situated at the edge of the huge marsh flooded areas, known as Kopački rit and protected as Nature Park. It was the first palace in Slavonia region after its liberation from the century and a half long period of Turkish rule. It was built as a hunt-palace on the estate given to Prince Eugen of Savoy as a present from the Austrian emperor Leopold I (1640 – 1705). Prince rarely stayed in the palace because of the somewhat difficult access to it due to marsh land. It is believed that the author of the palace was Austrian Architect Johan Lucas von Hildebrandt (1668 – 1745), who for the Prince of Savoy built a famous castle Belvedere in Vienna. The palace in Bilje together with the outbuildings was shaped mostly as a ground floor unit - the so called four-winged palace with inner courtyard. As concerns its style characteristics it has a late renaissance square ground-plan, with outer measures of about 56x56 meters. Early baroque facades have no fortification features, but those can be seen in shallow pits around the palace which remain partly preserved to date. In the middle of the 19th century next to the palace a landscape park was erected, covering today an area of eight hectares. In a varied flora of the gardens there grow predominantly autochthon sorts of trees, though also imported sorts can be found. The park is protected as a monument of park architecture. The palace used to be a seat of the vast king’s and duke’s estate. The administration of the estate was in Bilje until 1827 when it was moved to the village of Kneževo, situated to the north. In the middle and in the second half of the 19th century the manor covered an area of about 100 000 acres of land (approximately 57 600 hectares) of the 28 granges. Since Prince Eugen of Savoy did not have any heirs, after his death in 1736 the property came into ownership of the court chamber in Vienna. Only in 1780 the Queen Maria Theresia assigned the huge estate to her daughter Maria Christina (1742 – 1798), married to Prince Albrecht of Saxony and Teschen (1732 – 1822). Since they did not have children the estate inherited the Archduke Karl Ludwig (1771 – 1847), who proclaimed Bilje a majorat estate i.e. indefeasible estate of the Teschen line of the Habsburg family tree. Karl’s son Albrecht (1817 – 1895) inherited Bilje and after his death the nephew Friedrich (1856 – 1936), the son of Albrecht’s brother Karl Ferdinand (1818 – 1874). Friedrich was the last owner of Bilje until the end of the World War I. By the Treaty of Saint Germain, to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, i.e. the later Kingdom of Yugoslavia was given about 78% of ownership, while about 22% within Hungarian borders remained the property of Archduke Friedrich. Yugoslav part was proclaimed state property in 1920 and had that status until 1990-ies.