Arms of alliance of the Mordax and Gallenberg families in Grm Castle
NOVO MESTO, GRM CASTLE
Location of the coat of arms: stucco
Grm Castle near Novo Mesto enjoyed a period of prosperity under Wolf Ferdinand Mordax, who was raised to baronial rank in 1671, along with his brother Johann Andreas and cousins Wolf Adam and Daniel. A childless marriage with Anna Rosina Countess von Gallenberg allowed Wolf Ferdinand to invest all his money in the castle. He thoroughly reconstructed and expanded the building and decorated it with stucco and wall paintings. According to some sources, a few paintings at Grm were also produced by a mysterious Almanach. One of the most beautiful and still-preserved rooms in the castle from the days of Wolf Ferdinand Baron von Mordax is the relatively small, so-called ceremonial room on the second floor, with its ceiling also displaying the coats of arms of the Mordaxes and the Gallenbergs, held up by a pair of putti. They are entwined by an inscription revealing the full name and titles of the person who commissioned them—the castellan Wolf Ferdinand, then already Baron Mordax: WOLFF FERDINAND MORDAX FREYHERR ZV PORTTENDORFF VND ZAILSBVRG HER AVFF EHRENVELS PACH HERTENDORFF GRABEN VND STAVDEN.
Many interesting details about the daily life of Wolf Ferdinand and his wife Anna Rosina are revealed by their correspondence with their brother-in-law and brother, respectively, Jobst Jakob Count von Gallenberg. We learn from the letters that the castellan of Grm was rather obese, that he had a goatee, and that he was a sickly man suffering from gout as well as from problems with his spleen and kidney stones, due to which he frequented the nearby spa town of Dolenjske Toplice. His wife Anna Rosina suffered from frequent headaches and various kinds of fever.
The castellan of Grm also tended to the castle surroundings, where he planted a vineyard and a beautiful garden in which he grew pears and even melons. Near the castle, Wolf Ferdinand and his wife also erected a chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, which was destined to serve as the family tomb. The remains of Wolf Ferdinand were buried there in 1709 and those of his widow Anna Rosina a few years later. After the deaths of the Mordaxes, Grm Castle was inherited by their nephew Sigfried Count von Gallenberg.
Sources:
Stopar, Ivan: Grajske stavbe v osrednji Sloveniji. Dolenjska. Porečje Krke (vol. 1.). Ljubljana: Viharnik, 2001, pp. 75–76.
Žvanut, Maja: Grad Grm in Mordaksi. Rast, XII, 2001, pp. 195–203.
Žvanut, Maja: Okus Jošta Jakoba grofa in gospoda Gallenberškega. Med Srednjo Evropo in Sredozemljem. Vojetov zbornik (ed. Sašo Jerše). Ljubljana 2006, pp. 211–243.
Novo Mesto, Grm Castle
Grad Grm, Novo mesto, SlovenijaOther coats of arms of the Mordax family
Other coats of arms of the Gallenberg family
Coat of arms of the Counts Gallenberg in Gabrovka
Gabrovka pri Litiji