On a steep pier at a dead branch of a river of former confluence of rivers Sava and Krka at the end of the town with the same name lies Brežice castle. Slovene name of the town and the castle is probably older than German name and also has the same meaning: smal slope (Rain). In the middle ages one of the centers of Salzburg estates in Posavje was here. In a document dated 9th February 1241, issued in Brežice, in which archbishop of Salzburg Eberhard donated meny feuds to younger Ortolf, named Vulpis and as witnesses are mentioned ministerials Ringel and Prehtel de Rein, first known castellans of Brežice. In 1249 the castle explicitly is mentioned as castrum Rayne. In 1252 a mint was testified on a castle and in 1268 the caslr gets full judicial right over its subjects. Henrik of Svibno - Planina became the castellan in 1277 and remained in that position until 1284.
In the land register from 1309 we can find information about how many farms were under uffice of Brežice at the time, what were the incomes of castellans, guards, gatekeeper etc. (see Stopar, 1993 for detailed information). In 1322 when the castle is refered to as castrum Raein in land register lords of the castle were castellans Eckart from Lipnica, Herman from Čretež (Lisce?) and Fritzl from SlovenjGradec. Local resident Mentel began to build his onw tower in the town the same year.
Managers of archbishop's dominion in Brežice in the first half of 15^th century were Žiga of Dobrna (1425-1427), Oton of Radovljica (before 1443) and Janez of Rajhenburg (1444-1449). In the second half of 15^th century the managers were Višprijski (Weisspriach) Žiga (1450-1458), Hans (1458) and Klavž (1464). In 1457 archbishop gave the castles in Brežice dominion ti Viljem Reisperger in feud. In 1478 pawnee of Brežice was archbishop's brother-in-law Andrej Kraig, and between 1466 and 1482 Jernej Mindorfer from Mehovo is mentioned in Brežice who also bought one of the town's towers. In the town and in town's defence walls was at the time more than ten towers; archbishops accelerated their construction because with towers the defence of Brežice was much stronger.
At the time of Turkish wars, especially between 1471 and 1496 the fortification played a significant role because here were one of the door through which Turkish troops were invading our territories. In 1479 archbishops of Salzburg, who were in dispute with emperor, handed over the castle to their allies Hungars and is remained in their hands until the death of Matija Korovin in 1490. One year later, when peace was made in Bratislava (Požun) the castle became the property of provincial prince. As castellans we meet between 1563 and 1568 Ludvik noble Ungnad, in 1586 Franc Galla noble Gallenstein, after his death in 1604 Ludvik noble Frankopan and in 1694 count Ignac Marija Attems. Castle remained in the hands of Attems family until the last war after which it was nationalized.

Brežice castle was severely damaged in peasant revolt in 1515. The rebels attacked, conquered and burned the castle and the castle residents were killed. They chopped of the heads of the deceased and carry the heads for several days later on poles. After this devastation Brežice castle could not recover. Emperor Ferdinand hence approved 3000 goldinars in 1529 for construction and reinforcement of the town. Construction of a new castle, maybe on the same place as the old one was, began in 1530 and finished in 1590 (they were building the castle for the whole 60 years). There is no more traces of the original mediaeval castle and the present building carries in its design and its detail a mark of mature Renaissance era. I should note here that I decided to evident the castle into the period of its origin, therefore in the 16th century, and not in the period of the first mentioning of the previous castle. When the works were in progress numerous domestic, Croatian and Italian architects were collaborating among them famous Italian architects, brothers Andrej and Domenico del'Allio. Baroque era works from the time of count Ignac Attems were mainly concentrating on arranging facades, solemn staircase, chapel and a big knights' hall.

Between World War I the castle was arranged as a military hospital and after World War II it was a residence for company Vino Brežice and 26 families. From 1949 Museum of Posavje from Brežice has its collections on display on the castle. They also began to gradually reconstruct the castle. At first the reconstruction work was done on the interior and later on the exterior but at any time the works were in accordance with monument preservation principles and needs of the museum. Nowadays all places except the sellar are intended for the museum and cultural events.

* In the list of the castles an aerial photo of the castle is used from the site www.posavski-muzej.si, author is not stated.