The Bucelleni-Ruard Manor, commonly referred to as the Ruard manor , is a 16th century manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 located in the Sava

Sava (Jesenice)

Sava, today more commonly known as Stara Sava is a formerly autonomous settlement that is now part of the town and municipality of Jesenice, in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia.-History:...

 district of the town of Jesenice, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, at the street address of 45 Prešernova. It is one of four so-called "ironworks castles" built in the area during the 16th and early 17th centuries by the owners of iron-mining and -processing facilities, in what were then the clustered settlements of Plavž

Plavž (Jesenice)

Plavž is a settlement in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia, part of the town of Jesenice. The name Plavž means "blast furnace" in Slovene.-History:...

, Sava, Murova and Javornik

Slovenski Javornik

Slovenski Javornik is a settlement in the Municipality of Jesenice in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Commonly known simply as Javornik, the place name is derived from the Slovene word javor 'maple'....

, amalgamated into the town of Jesenice in 1929. The Kos Manor

Kos Manor

The Kos Manor is a 16th century manor house located in the Murova neighborhood of the town of Jesenice, Slovenia, at the street address of Cesta maršala Tita 64...

 in Murova also survives; the Plavž and Javornik manors were demolished.

The Ruard Manor was built in 1538 by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 businessman Bernardo Bucelleni, who had recently relocated to Sava from Bergamo

Bergamo

Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...

 and whose family would come to dominate the iron mining and processing industry of the entire upper Sava valley

Upper Sava Valley

The Upper Sava Valley is an alpine valley in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. The Sava Dolinka river flows along it. It begins in Rateče at an altitude of 870 m and ends at Moste at 560 m. It is the geographical border between the Julian Alps and the Karavanke Alps. It was created on a...

. Unlike the Kos manor, Bucelenni chose to locate this residence close to the ironworks themselves. The Bucellenis were very successful for a time, and were ennobled during the 17th century, taking the name "von Reichenberg" after the German name of their ore mines at Savske Jame

Planina pod Golico

Planina pod Golico is a mountain village in the municipality of Jesenice, in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia.It lies at an altitude of 954 m in the Karavanke Alps, at the foot of mount Golica...

. In 1686 the family was elevated to counthoood.

The manor gained the second half of its current name in 1766, when Valentin Ruard, a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 entrepreneur, bought the entire estate and restored the failing ironworks surrounding it. Leopold Ruard, his son, was mayor of Jesenice under the brief period of French rule

Illyrian provinces

The Illyrian Provinces was an autonomous province of the Napoleonic French Empire on the north and east coasts of the Adriatic Sea between 1809 and 1816. Its capital was established at Laybach...

. In 1831, the manor was expanded and reconstructed in the Neoclassical style

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

. In the next generation, it passed out of Ruard hands, as Viktor Ruard was unable to obtain capital for the modernization of the family ironworks, and was forced to sell both them and the manor to the KID

KID

KID, whose name is an acronym of Kindle Imagine Develop, was a Japan-based company specializing in porting and developing bishōjo games....

 company in 1871, which converted it into clerks' housing (much like the nearby Kasarna

Kasarna

The Kasarna is a historic building in the Stara Sava district of the town of Jesenice, Slovenia. Formerly a residential block, it is currently an ethnographic museum. It is located at 48 Prešerenova.-History:...

).

Since 1954, the manor has served as a museum, and later became the seat of the Upper Sava Museum

Upper Sava Museum Jesenice

The Upper Sava Museum Jesenice is a regional museum based in the town of Jesenice and the neighboring municipality of Kranjska Gora, both in northwestern Slovenia. The museum's name refers to the general area it documents, the upper Sava Dolinka river valley...

. It hosts several permanent exhibits:

• Historical museum of the iron and steel industry in the Jesenice region, featuring tools, artifacts and motorized maquette
  Maquette
  A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture...
  
  s of industrial facilities
• Paleontological collection of the Palaeozoic flora and fauna of the western Karavanke Alps
• Mineral
  Mineral
  A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
  
  collection