In 1773, after the house in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had been born became too small, the entire Mozart family moved across the river to the Tanzmeisterhaus on the square then known as Hannibalplatz. The building now accommodates a museum showing the various stations of the lives of the Mozart family. The building is now commonly known as Mozarts Wohnhaus and no-one knows where Hannibalplatz is as its latter-day name is Markartplatz. The existence of the building was first documented in 1617.
On the 16th October 1944 two thirds of the house were destroyed in an air raid. The owner at the time sold the bombed section of the building to Assicurazioni Generali, who then erected an office building subsequently purchased by the International Mozarteum Foundation in 1989. The International Mozarteum Foundation had already acquired the surviving section of the Tanzmeistersaal hall for museum purposes in 1955. On the 2nd May 1994 the office building was demolished and on the 4th May reconstruction of the original house was commenced according to old structural plans. In 1996 Mozart’s Wohnhaus was reopened.
References:The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.