Hopfenbach Castle (Slovene: grad Hmeljnik) stands west of the settlement, on a hill overlooking the A2 motorway. The original owners of the castle, the noble Hopfenbachs, died out in the 14th century. Subsequently the castle was owned by the Carniolan comital families Auersperg, Gallenfells, and Paradaiser, and the baronial families Tschernembl and Jankovič. In 1876 the castle, by then in a dilapidated state, was bought by Baron Franz Wambolt von UmstadtofEssen. The Wambolt family carried out a thorough restoration, maintaining the Renaissance architectural elements and uncovering older Gothic and Romanesque elements covered or altered by previous adaptations. Before the Second World War, the castle served as perhaps the best example of extant profane medieval architecture in Carniola.
In 1942 the castle was ransacked by the Slovene Partisans and locals, and partially burned. The abandoned castle was subsequently bombed in an RAF raid.
State sponsored restoration works began in the late 1950s, but soon stalled. The remains have been deteriorating ever since. Most of the interesting architectural elements, including the renaissance arcaded hallways of the inner courtyard, have since disappeared.
Hopfenbach Castle in 2020
Hopfenbach is a hilltop castle. The Romanesque square keep was first expanded with the addition of Gothic perimeter towers and the eastern wing. During the Habsburg–Ottoman wars the entire complex was surrounded with a defensive wall, reinforced with round towers. During the Renaissance, arcaded hallways were added to the inner courtyard and outbuildings were constructed in the lower courtyard. The final result was an extensive defensive complex, with two concentric defensive walls closing off the access to the main building, perched on the raised ridge. A walled garden was laid out east of the complex, separated from the main gate by a dry moat.[5][6]
^"2047: Gorenje Kamenje - Cerkev sv. Duha" [2047: Gorenje Kamenje – Holy Spirit Church]. Register nepremične kulturne dediščine [Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage] (in Slovenian). Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
^Potočnik, Bernarda (1994). Hmeljnik, Knjižica Glasnika Slovenskega etnološkega društva 22. Ljubljana: Znanstveni inštitut Filozofske fakultete.
^Stopar, Ivan (2002). Grajske stavbe v osrednji Sloveniji, Dolenjska II.3, Porečje Temenice in Mirne. Ljubljana: Viharnik.
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