International Interest Network|Castle Kalich|Claudia de Almeida

Dear Readers,

for those who do not know me, I'm Claudia de Almeida.

I own a 12th century castle in the beautiful Bohemian Central Mountains (Czech Republic).

My vision is to bring to life, in this castle, a meeting place for international understanding through cultural exchange.

But there is much to be done to complete the renovation of the castle, therefore I'm planning to start a crowdfunding project (CF).

The history of the castle in Trebusin (in German Triebsch until 1945) goes way back. The village Trebusici was probably founded before 1050. From a document from the year 1257, which is a copy of an original from 1050, we found out that at that time there were already a Johanniter monastery  and a monastery church. Under the present castle, more precisely under the small ballroom,  there is a Romanesque chapel, probably the oldest Romanesque chapel of our region. The chapel was accidentally discovered during the renovation works in 1950. Unfortunately, it was never brought to light because no funds were available so far. (Trebusin: http://archive.is/jktsw)
Since then, the castle has had various owners, until my family,  "Männel de Garrigues" acquired it in 1912. In 1913 large forests areas became part of the property. The seller was Baron Karl von Skal. He was the cousin of my great-grandmother Helene Männel. (Karl von Skal was the father of Sophie, later Countess von Hohenberg. She was the wife of Prince Franz Ferdinand. Both were shot in 1914 in Sarajevo). At that time, those lands were part of the so called Austrian Bohemia. After the  First World War in 1918  a new State was created by Thomas Masaryk, the Czech Slovak Republic Thomas Masaryk married my great-great aunt Charlotte de Garrigues. Since then, he was called Thomas Masaryk Garrigues, in short TGM. He was re-elected three times, and is, therefore, with 18 years of service, the longest in office confirmed President of a democratic European country ever.

My great-grandparents earned their money with forestry until the second world war broke out, and my family, as a result,  expelled in 1945. My mother H.C. Meraldi, born Männel de Garrigues, was born in 1938. She was the eldest grandchild and was still enrolled in school in Triebsch. During the socialist era, the castle served as a school. At that time it went through many structural misdeeds after it had been completely devastated in 1945! The school in the castle had to be closed in 1988, as the birth rate had declined, too. This allowed my mother in 1989, to lease the castle. Only in 1991, when the law allowed for a repurchase, my mother was able to buy the castle back. My mother, "Corinna", as she was called by everyone, renovated the castle and made a romantic "three star" castle hotel  out of it. Furthermore, my mother founded a tourism association and the Czech Cultural Club. Mrs Corinna had no intention of opening an ordinary hotel, she wanted to create a place of encounter for the improvement of international understanding. She worked for reconciliation, promoted cultural exchange and also helped on the spot, so far she could (for example, raising funds for the renovation of the old Baroque church in the village, etc.). . For her efforts, she was awarded the Masaryk Medal. She was highly respected by intellectuals, as well as by art and history enthusiasts, but, at the beginning, the most could not handle this situation: . "A German who comes back and gets everything back for free." This was the conventional wisdom at the time. She belonged to the first generation who returned to the former "Sudetenland". She had been given nothing! Everything had to be achieved on her own resources. At the time I thought it was because of the historical moment. Today, Iearn that, inter alia, this is because most Czechs do not know their history well, and that it is not taught properly at school. My mother, "Corinna" parted in February 2005.

I, Claudia de Almeida, am her youngest daughter and I have given myself to the challenge taking on the difficult heritage. In 2005 I was appointed heritage executor and this is how my story with the castle Trebusici began. Since then, I’ve been taking care of the estate. The people here began to call me "Mrs. Claudia". Some of my artist friends also call me "Mrs. Musa".
During the 8 years testament procedure, I was legally unable to act and to bring my own ideas. Now I am the castle owner and I would like to continue with my mother’s and my wonderful idea of ​​a cultural meeting place.

Therefore, I have now decided to take private support, in order to bring the "Sleeping Beauty Castle" back to life! I wish with all my heart the castle to be ​​available for all again, for people to find a place  to be Human.  To make it a meeting place for better understanding among people, for cultural preservation and the promotion of culture, I now need a lot of loving donors who want to make this idea come true!

The costs of the renovation amount to approx 1.2 million euros. The castle is a listed building and is located in a natural reserve. Definitely further funds could be needed to recover the precious frescoes and the Romanesque chapel below the small ballroom. But one thing after another.

Please help me to protect a valuable cultural heritage and to support international understanding.

For each donor, starting from 10 € donations, there are discounts on all the products of our network of interests. For higher donations, there are other attractive offers (goodies) that are graded according to amount of the donations (see text "donors").

Are you ever curious what it looks like here at ours?
Then just have a look at the following Web pages! You are warmly welcome!

Yours,  Claudia de Almeida

Virtual Tour 360°
http://ick.webzdarma.cz/

My mother „Mrs Corinna" and her story:
http://www.adlergebirge-pollom.eu/dokumente/Corinna%20Meraldi.pdf