Situated in the town of Holíč in western Slovakia is the only private residence of the Habsburg family in today's Slovakia. It was a summer manor house used by Emperor Franz Stephan of Lorraine and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa. In 1963, for its monumental and grandiose architectural concept and its historical background it was declared to be a National Cultural Heritage site.      The original forerunner of the Manor House at Holíč was constructed in a strategically important place, on the frontier between Moravia and Hungary, as a stronghold to protect the western border of the Kingdom...