An important monument of cultural heritage in Šmarješke Toplice municipality is the ruins of the
Klevevž castle (Klingenfels). In the past the castle represented an economical and administrative
centre of Freising bishops’ property in Dolenjska region. In the near proximity of the castle’s ruins
there is still a former castle manor house and the outbuildings. Klevevž castle was built up by the
Freising bishops after the approval of the Ulrich III Spanheim in 1265.
The original castle was first just a four-angled tower, but through history the castle’s form and
perimeter changed distinctively. The castle was renovated and expanded several times mostly in the
years 1317 and 1395, even more times later. The castle walls were built before the year 1449, when
they also built the residential building with a chapel. The castle first wasn’t intended for the bishop’s
accommodation, since the Freising bishops gave it to the castle’s caretaker. Castle’s maintenance
was formally separated from managing the manor. These were two occupations that were managed
by only one person in Klevevž. This person also managed the administrative centres Gutenwerth and
Prežek, since the castle’s caretaker there didn’t have the managing and administrative functions.
In 1301 the Freising bishop made Rudolf Svibenski the caretaker and protector of the castle and
nobility. He was paid quite well for his work. When in 1335 the Habsburgs took over Carniola, they
called themselves main barristers of religious buildings in the country. Only after Rudolf’s death could
the Freising bishops arrange their ownership again. At that point the reconstruction and rebuilding of
the estate and the castle began. After 1449 the lords of Črnomelj became the castle’s and estate’s
caretakers for a longer period of time, for nearly the entire second half of the 15th century.
This was the period of Turkish and Hungarian invasions under the leadership of Matthias Corvinus,
who fought with the emperor Frederick III. In 1489 Matthias Corvinus was supposed to take over
Klevevž. After his death the emperor Frederick III took it over. His son Maximillian returned the estate
to the bishops again. Despite everything the Bavarian bishops’ ownership of the castle and the rest of
the estate became more and more questionable. In 1622 the Freising bishops sold the nobility and the
castle to George nbl. Moscon from the Šrajbarski turn with the approval of the pope and the provincial
lord.
This is how the important provincial lords parted with the Dolenjska region permanently. Their bishop
estate stood there for almost two centuries longer. After Moscons the estate was passed over to John
George nobleman Pallenburg on his mother's side. Because of family quarrels the nobility was divided
to three parts. Two thirds of the estate was bought by John Mary Strassol in 1676, in 1693 it was taken
over by the convent in Stična. The latter bought the rest of Klevevž estate from others as well. The
convent in Stična sold the expanded Klevevž estate to the convent in Kostanjevica in 1718 because of
overindebtedness.
After the convent in Kostanjevica was abolished, in 1794 the nobility was taken over by the religious
treasure-fund. The nobility was sold by this fund at an auction in 1807 to Franc Schweiger nobleman
Lerchenfeld, who also became the owner of Zbure estate before that. Lerchenfeld’s son Anton
inherited the estate but soon found himself in grave financial problems and debts and thus sold
Klevevž and Zbure through lottery in 1823. Louis Joseph Jombart won the lottery ticket no. 65 080.
Two years later he was listed as the owner of both estates. Jombart gave the estates to his son Louis
July in 1857, and in 1874 his other son Victor took them over but died in 1888. Both estates were left
to Victor’s daughter Victoria. Victoria’s daughter Gabrielle gave Zbure to her husband Anton Ulm in
1898, who later also became the owner of Klevevž. The Ulms weren’t of noble origin. They came from
Zavrč in Štajerska region and were mostly directed to farming and thus modernized their former
estate, which became a large estate after feudalism was abolished in 1848. They built large stables
and a few outbuildings that are still admired to this day. Even more important than farming, viticulture
and agriculture were for them the woods, since these represented two thirds of the estate. Under the
castle and above the mill along the thermal water spring they built a power plant to produce electricity
for the saw-mill and other farming needs. After the World War I they had to give around 80ha. of land
to the farmers due to agrarian reform. They mostly kept the forests. The Ulms moved away from the
castle in 1942 before the castle was burnt down. After the World War II the castle was left without the
roof and began to fall apart very fast.
Today only the location of the former castle of Klevevž estate, some castle walls over Radulja rapids,
outbuilding and remains of the park can be seen.
The Upper Klevevž cave (Zgornja Klevevška jama) is located along Radulja stream’s gorge under the
ascent, where you can find the Klevevž castle ruins. The cave is formed by a single long passage of
209 m. It is directed north and filled with sediments at the bottom. The cave is dry and one of the
longest in this area. They discovered stalactites and stalagmites in it and archaeologists discovered
the prehistoric ceramics. Local legend says that a treasure was supposed to be hidden in the cave as
well. The cave is still not prepared for visitors.
Around 10 m below Upper Klevevž cave (Zgornja Klevevška jama) there’s an entrance to the Lower
Klevevž cave (Spodnja Klevevška jama) or Ajdovska cave. The Lower Klevevž cave is a water cave
where a stream springs out and is sometimes even bigger than Radulja. If you want to visit it you need
a boat or an experienced caver. Right before the end of the cave, where there’s an impassable crevice
with water coming out, you can find a small side passage that leads to a small hall with two hollows full
of warm water. There’s also a hypothermal spring in the cave coming out of a crevice in the wall with a
temperature of 21°C. This is a unique attraction of Slovene underground and until today the only
known thermal spring cave. So far they searched through 518 m of passages in the Lower Klevevž
cave but it still isn’t prepared for visitors. The cave is interesting also because of the rich cave animal
life. They even found colonies of the Mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale), the mouseeared bats (Myotis myotis), individual lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros) and the
greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum).