Duino Castle
Duino Castle (Italian: Castello di Duino, German: Schloss Duino, Slovene: Grad Devin) is a fourteenth-century fortification located in the village of Duino, located in the municipality of Duino-Aurisina, near Trieste, modern-day Italy, on the cliffs overlooking the Gulf of Trieste.
Building commenced in 1389 at the order of the
Duino Castle remains property of the
Most of the castle and its grounds have been opened to the public as a museum and park, while parts of the castle have housed the United World College of the Adriatic since 1982.
History
Early history
Near the castle are the ruins of the Old Castle which dates back to the 11th century. It belonged to the patriarchy of Aquileia. The castle dates back to 1389, when the Wallsee family commanded the construction of a strong fortress. Over time, the Wallsee family disappeared and the castle, after having been used as a prison, became the residence of the Luogar and Hofer.
The House of Thurn und Taxis
At the end of the 19th century it became the property of
At the end of and after World War II, the castle served as Headquarters of the British
Rilke and the Duino Elegies
In 1912, Austrian-Bohemian writer and poet
Rilke finished the work in Switzerland after a ten-year period where depression and an existential crisis rendered him unable to continue writing. Upon publication in 1922, Rilke dedicated the work to the Princess, who he esteemed as one of his greatest patrons and closest friends.[1]
References
- ^ a b Freedman, Ralph. Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke. (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1998), 317-320.
- ^ a b Gass, William H. Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 225.
- ^ Leishman, J. B. and Spender, Stephen (translators). "Introduction" in Rainer Maria Rilke: Duino Elegies. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1939), 10.
- ^ Hoeniger, F. David. "Symbolism and Pattern in Rilke's Duino Elegies" in German Life and Letters Volume 3, Issue 4, (July 1950), pages 271–283.
- ^ Perloff, Marjorie. "Reading Gass Reading Rilke" in Parnassus: Poetry in Review. Volume 25, Number 1/2 (2001).
- ^ Dash, Bibhudutt. "In the Matrix of the Divine: Approaches to Godhead in Rilke's Duino Elegies and Tennyson's In Memoriam" in Language in India Volume 11 (11 November 2011), 355-371.