The Brdo mansion, on the northern outskirts of Kranj, is the best maintained and one of the best known of all mansions and castles in Slovenia, largely thanks to the fact that the estate is the backdrop to virtually all top political events in the country.

A soul-sensing place

Built 500 years ago, the building and the estate surrounding it have an interesting history featuring some of the key figures of the country's and also global history.

Most Slovenians know it for being a residence of the late Yugoslav leader Tito, while more recently, in 2001, it was the scene of the first meeting between the then US President George W. Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin, with the former famously saying he had gotten a sense of Putin's soul.

The mansion is the main venue used for state protocol services and has hosted a number of foreign dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, while the nearby conference centre has been the focal point of events during Slovenia's EU presidency stints in 2008 and 2021.

From Reformation to Enlightenment - always en vogue

Built in the first half of the 16th century, Brdo was the first renaissance mansion in what was then Carniola, a province of the Holy Roman Empire. It was built by the powerful family of Eck von Ungrispach, the permit given by the Emperor Maximilian I personally, as the family had been lending immense sums of money to the crown.

The first notable visitor to the estate from the historical point of view was the key figure of Slovenian Reformation, Primož Trubar (1508-1586), the author of the first printed Slovenian books.

In the mid-18th century the estate was bought by Michelangelo Zois, the father of another key figure in Slovenia's history Sigismund (Žiga) Zois, a wealthy patron of arts and the focal point of Enlightenment in Carniola. Žiga Zois ultimately inherited the estate, building his vast mineral collection at the mansion.

It was during this time that Žiga's brother, Karel Zois, a prolific botanist, established the first Alpine botanical gardens at the Brdo estate, according to the estate's website.

Royal residence fit for a socialist leader

The Zois family held on to the mansion until the late 1920s, when the then dilapidated building was bought at a public auction by two lumber tradesmen, who thoroughly renovated it and sold it six years later to Pavel Karađorđević, the king of what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Having served as a sporadic residence to the royal family for about half a decade, Brdo was nationalised following the Second World War and refurbished to serve as a residence of Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito, who was very fond of the estate, which was heavily stocked with game and fish.

During this time, the mansion underwent several rounds of renovation, while the estate was expanded significantly, from 66 hectares to over 470 hectares, according to a statement by a high representative for succession.

Following Slovenia's breakaway from Yugoslavia, the estate became a key venue for the state protocol services. King Pavel's heirs sued Slovenia to retrieve parts of the estate and the mansion but have been found ineligible under the country's denationalisation legislation.

Grand estate becomes a park

Since the early 1990s, the mansion has hosted a number of dignitaries, diplomats and other key figures, while the estate has undergone a significant overhaul.

Gone are the barracks that housed the military and police personnel needed while the estate served as residence to Tito and have since been replaced by a modern conference centre. Moreover, a horse race track has been replaced with a state-of-the-art football training centre.

A small part of the estate, including the mansion, is open to the public, while the rest is a natural sanctuary rich with forests and game.

Today, a gravel road encircles the estate. Running alongside a high wire fence, it is popular among locals for shady walks, cycling tours and runs, as it allows glimpses of the serene forest and fish ponds once off limits to everyone but the socialist regime.