Fountain

There are currently three fountains in the park, the most impressive of which is located directly in front of the manor house. The castle’s ceremonial courtyard (from French: “cour d’honneur”) is the area in front of the main entrance, which in Betliar Park is filled with a large fountain with a four-leaf clover shaped basin and a water jet. The fountain is surrounded by ornamental boxwood hedges. It is dominated by a female figure with wings, made of cast iron, which is washed by water from a centrally located jet, except during the winter months. It is shaped like a four-leaf clover and its central motif is a bronze statue of a sea nymph – a Nereid, daughter of the sea god Nereus (previously known as “Psyche”), created by French academic sculptor Mathurin Moreau (1822-1912).
 

The ceremonial courtyard in front of the manor house is enclosed on the north side by three buildings of the former farmstead, two of which are now used as museum storage facilities and one of which has been converted into a private guesthouse. The fact that the Andrássy family originally bred noble horse breeds is evidenced by the stone statues of horse heads located on the gables of all three buildings.
 
The main park road, which leads from the entrance gate directly to the castle, is marked at the entrance to the ceremonial courtyard by a pair of fluted cast iron columns, which were brought here from the former Andrássy park in Vlachovo and are used as planters with flowers. A beautiful wrought-iron gate with Renaissance ornamentation, enclosing the courtyard next to the servants’ quarters, was also brought to Betliar from Vlachovo.