The Blood Countess's dress. (source: ČTK)
A REPLICA of a dress shown in a portrait of Alžbeta Báthoryová went on display on August 15 as part of an exhibition about the Blood Countess at Čachtice’s Draškovič Castle.Báthory is pictured wearing the dress in a portrait exhibited at the National Museum in Budapest. The replica is worth more than Sk200,000 (€6,638.78), the SITA newswire wrote.
The decision to reproduce the dress was made two years ago, after Katarína Babičová, head of Trenčín Museum, said the concept for the exhibition lacked something “material”.
It took a team of seven people to make it. The tailoring alone was done over the course of six months. And even so, it is not certain that Báthory would ever have worn such a dress – the portrait was made after her death.
“We took the restoration of the dress seriously, we started from scratch,” designer Jana Zaujecová said. “The whole work, including sewing, was made by hand, we used only natural materials. For example, the skirt has a diameter of six metres. There are four metres of hand-made silk bobbin lace.”
“When planning the dress’s size,” Zaujecová continued, “we consulted an expert in order to get the average measures of that era: 155 centimetres high; breast 88 centimetres, waist about 70 centimetres; and hips about 95 centimetres.”
Marián Strieženec, the exhibition’s co-curator, told SITA: “When making the design and manufacturing the dress, we just focused on facts. We talked to Magda Zubercová, who is one of our top experts. It was more difficult to get the facts than the fabrics.”
Babičová from Trenčín Museum said the time was right for the exhibition.
“Because of Juraj Jakubisko’s film Bathory and the increased interest in Čachtice Castle and the legend connected with it,” she said.
Čachtice Mayor Anna Ištoková confirmed estimates that the number of visitors to the castle has doubled.
