[Slovakia] Hrady, zámky, a kostoly | Castles, Châteaux, Manor Houses and Churches

I´ve decided to place here some of our cultural heritage. If there are train stations than why not some pieces of our history.

These are, of course, not all of our castles etc..but was most memorable for me.

Enjoy...

The history of the castle rock in Trenčín stretches back to the age of the Roman Empire, testified by the inscription telling about the victory of the II. Roman legion at Laugaricio in 179 A.D. The castle became the residence of Matúš Čák, the legendary “Lord of the river Váh and the Tatra Mountains”. The Matúš Tower, dominating both the castle silhouette as well as the town, also reminds us of him. In the courtyard the legendary water well is to be found, telling the legend of the Turkish prince Omar and his great love for the beautiful Fatima, whom he had to redeem by sinking a well in the rock. The castle houses exhibitions of the Trenčín Museum, documenting the history of the region and of the castle – exhibitions of historic furniture, weapons, pictures and other artefacts as well as a castle gallery, archaeological collections and findings.


The most important Roman epigraphic monument in Central Europe north of the Dunaj (Danube) river, preserved „in situ“. In the last third of the 2nd Century, the invasion of Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi started one of the most dangerous conflicts between the Roman empire and tribes of the Danube river. In 179, the last year of the war, detachment troops of the Second Auxiliary Legion (II legio Adiutrix) penetrated from a garrison in Aquinc (today the city of Budapest) through the Vah river valley as far as Laugaricio, today‘s Trenčín. Their presence in the surroundings of our City is commemorated by a Latin inscription on the castle rock:

VICTORIAE AVGVSTORV(m) EXERCITUS QVI LAV GARICIONE SEDIT MIL(ites) L(egionis) II DCCCLV (Marcus Valerrius) MAXIMIANUS LEG(atus) LEG (ionis) II AD)iutricis) CVR(avit) F(aciendum)

„To the victory of emperors, dedicated by 855 soldiers of II. Legion of an army stationed in Laugaricio. Made to order of Marcus Valerius Maximianus, a legate of the Second Auxiliary legion.“

The authenticity of the inscription and an identification of the donator, a legate of the Second Auxiliary Legion, was made possible by the unique discovery in the Algerian town of Zana (formerly called Diana Veteranorum in a Roman province Numidia). In the first half of the 50s, a pedestal of the statue of a former vice gerent M. V. Maximian, with a votive inscription describing his rich and meritorious career for Roma was found. Among other things, it mentioned that he had served as a commander of the troops that spent the winter in Laugaricio, the land of Barbarians.
Precise dating of the inscription was enabled by data saying that it was dedicated to „the victory of emperors.....“It means, it could only have been the emperor Marcus Aurelius, „a philoshopher on the throne“ (161-180) and his son Commodus, who became a coruler as late as in 179.
In the spring of 180, after the death of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, Commodus made peace with the Germans, whichupon the Roman troops withdrew from the land of Barbarians.
This unique monument carved to the castle rock, is visible from the terrace of hotel Tatra.



The first written record of the Orava Castle goes to the 13th century. It ranks among the most significant monuments of castle architecture and belongs to one of the most frequently visited monuments in Slovakia. The Orava Castle towers 112 metres over the sea level while the village of Oravsky Podzamok is dominated magnificently by it.






This majestic castle stands on a rocky outcrop which forms part of the Malé Karpaty mountains above the Danube river and is an outstanding feature of the capital Bratislava. The massive rectangular building with four corner towers stands in a strategic place which was inhibited during Celtic times and in the time of Greater Moravia. In the 9th century there was a palace and a basilica in the place of the present castle. The architecture of the castle is characterized by the reconstructions and extensions made during the Gothic and Renaissance period as well as during the rule of Maria Theresia. In the middle of the 16th century, Bratislava became the coronation city of Greater Hungary for 200 years and the castle became the king's residence. The sessions of the Hungarian Parlament took place there and the coronation jewels of the Hungarians kings were deposited in the coronation tower. After moving the royal court to Vienna the castle became a General Seminary, i.e. an educational institution, where many outstanding scholars of that time studied. Later the castle was used by the army and it burned down in 1811. Its reconstruction took place in the sixties of this century.
The Bratislava Castle is the National cultural monument.





The Budatín castle was built during the refortification of the country after the Tatar invasion in the middle of the 13th century. It was a water castle, protected by rivers Váh and Kysuca and moats. Construction work reached its peak when the castle was owned by the Suing family, between 1487 and 1798. A Renaissance reconstruction, in 1551, is recorded on a fireplace on the first floor of the tower. By the 18th century the castle no longer hand any military function and a baroque-classical chateau was built over the remains of the fortification.
In 1798, ownership of Budatín Castle passed to the Čáky family, who retained it until 1945. The castle became involved in the revolutionary events of 1848 - 1849 and on 10 January 1849 it was burned nearly to the ground and after that it was left to decay for a long time. The owners did not begin a complete reconstruction until 1920 - 1922. The ruins of the baroque palace were removed and a south- west wing built in a revivalist style. The building has survived in this form to the present day. Today it houses exhibitions prepared by the Považie Museum in Žilina and further exhibitions are being planned to welcome visitors in the future.



The castle Krásna Hôrka from the beginnig of 14th century. In 16th - 18th century rebuilt. Museum and gallery. A mausoleum is located near the castle.





Zvolen castle is standing on a low hill, the castle has a rectangular shape with four wings surrounding the central courtyard. Constructed in 1370-1382 as a Gothic hunting chateau of the Italian type of a municipal palace, the castle was built for the Hungarian King Louis I (the Great) from the Anjou family. To prevent Turkish attacks, fortifications were built later. These were inspired by quattrocento architecture. The castle was rebuilt many times, but the ground floor has preserved its original character up to now. In the 1960s, the castle was renovated after the project of the architect K. Chudomelka. Preserved fragments of medieval panels and parts of fine architecture create an impressive environment for the Slovak National Gallery collections displayed at the castle.



The most noteworthy historical relics are in the castle area - the oldest part of Banská Bystrica. The Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary built in the romanesque style in the 13th century.
The Church of the Holy Cross was gradually built to the city walls in the castle area together with the Mathias's House and the Town hall in the 15th century. Its main altar with the ornamental sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Magdalene by Vavrinec Dunajský is the main eye catcher in the church.
The Mathias's House is a five-storey late-Gothic building with a Gothic portal and stone console balcony. On the Facade are the coats of arms of the King Mathias and the town, dated from the year 1479.
In the castle area remained part of the city walls and three bastions - Clerical, Miner's and Parochial are preserved. A tower with the entrance barbican, drawbridge at the entrance to the castle was added to the city walls. There are three heavy bells in the tower. The biggest of them weighs 9900 kg.


The city castle of Kežmarok was built as a defensive castle. lt is first mentioned in 1463 in connection with the Zápoľský family. Its history is linked with the Tökely family which had the originally Gothic fort rebuilt as a luxurious Rennaisance residence. They also built the baroque chapel. Last owner was Ferdinand Rueber nad in 1702 it was bought by the town of Kezmarok. The castle burnt down several times in the 18th century and was repaired in the 18th and 2Oth century. General restoration work was carried out between 1962-1985.



Kremnica is one of the Middle Age towns which in its hay day was the centre of attention for many Kings and Queens. They were interested in the gold mines that are very typical of this town. On November 17th 1328, King Karol Robert from Anjou vested “CREMNYCHBANA” with the prestigious award of being a free King's mine and coin town. He also established a coin workshop here which was in use for over 670 years. Coins from Kremnica, called Kremnicke dukaty of floreny, are today one of the most valuable coins in Europe.
Mining and the coin making industry brought much wealth and glory to Kremnica. The town was called “Golden Kremnica” because of its highest gold production in The Hungarian Empire.
The past glory of Kremnica can still be seen in the well preserved architecture. In 1950, the historical town centre became The Town Monument Reservation. It includes Temple with church, Baroque fountain and Mighty Baroque Plaque Column decorated by sculptures of Dionyz Stanetti – a famous sculptor of the mining towns.
The oldest part of Kremnica can be found by searching out Kremnicky castle which is another National Cultural Monument. The most impressive part of this castle is The Church of St. Katarina. The historical centre with its monuments and the castle are the typical examples of gothic urbanisation.


Bytča perished castle. A Renessaince mansion-house has been built on its place.


In the 15th century the importance of Smolenice increased considerably, because a castle was built there which became the centre and seat of the Smolenice estate. Early in the 16th century, Smolenice had been gained by the Országh family. In 1777, Ján Pálffy takes the Smolenice estate as pawn. The Pálffy family did not live at the castle, which had decayed considerably during the life of Krištof III, the last of the Erdödy family – they lacked money for maintenance. The decay was complete during the Napoleon Wars – the main castle building and the tower had burnt down.
Construction of the Smolenice Castle of today had been started early in the 20th century by Jozef Pálffy Jr., the landlord of Smolenice and Dobrá Voda estates. First work on the fortification walls started in 1887 already on the bastions. Bastions from the old castle were preserved, with height extension and new roofing. The Count Pálffy had built the castle at his own expense according to design by the architect Jozef Hubert. During World War 1, the construction was interrupted; provisional adaptation of some rooms was made and archives of the Pálffy family was located there. The construction was not resumed before the end of World War 2. In 1945 the Castle became the property of the State; it was taken over by the Slovak National Council who decided to have their summer-house there. The castle was finished and furbished and handed over to the Slovak Academy of Sciences on 26 June 1953 to become a representative place for meetings of scientists from worldwide.



The Bojnice Museum is housed in neo-Gothic chateau at the foothills of Malá Magura. The chateau, National Cultural Monuments, is one of the finest building monuments in Slovakia. It was set up in 1950.
The museum collects, protects, expertly processes and exhibits works of art since the Middle Ages down to the end of the 19th century.
Forming a part of the chateau are also representative rooms - the Golden Hall with a magnificent angelic ceiling, the Oriental Lounge with original Turkish wall hangings and original furnishings of the Middle Castle. Besides a sight-seeing tour of the chateau, the Bojnice Museum also offers cultural and social events: concerts of classic musical in the Hunyady hall, performances of historic fencing in the castle courtyards, weddings in the Golden Hall. It rents out rooms for business transactions, press conferences, symposia, gala receptions and banquets, and provides accommodation in guest rooms and luxury suites of the chateau.




Stará Ľubovňa castle was built in 13th century. Rebuilt in 16th -17th century. Now there is the etnographic museum.



The castle of Slovenská Ľupča had originated before 1250 and originally served as a hunting seat for a royal family. The ownership of the Castle changed to individuals later on. They tried to adapt the Castle according to their own wishes, and we can still see the evidence of these various rebuildings. During reconstruction works in the 17th century the coutryard was supplemented with arcades and the rooms with vaulted ceilings. At that time the Castle was the seat of the Ľupča nobility who possessed a lot of villages situated to the east of Banská Bystrica. After a fire in 1860 the Castle was adapted for use as an orphanage and under the previous regime it was the place where nuns were isolated. As the Castle was in continuous use it has been preserved considerably. At present it is being prepared for new purposes.


A preserved huge castle in Červený Kameň is situated on a quartz hill over a small village of Píla in the Small Carpathian Mountains. Originally, the king castle from the half of C13 functioned as part of a fortified castle line on the west border of Austria. Since the beginning of C16 the Thurzo family owned the castle, and since 1535 it was owned by the Fuggero family, which was then one of the richest family in Europe. A member of the family - Anton started a wide transformation of the castle into a fortress with large basement rooms that were to function as storehouses for goods transported to the west Europe. However, the castle never fulfilled its function. Since the end of C16 till 1945 it was owned by the Pálffy family. They rebuilt it and transformed it into a Renaissance-Baroque palace full of magnificent interiors. Nowadays you can see well-preserved interiors full of stuccos covered with sculpted apotheoses and scenes from mythology as well as a well equipped the Terrena chamber from the year 1656 created by an Italian artist J. Tencall.
Since 1970 the castle has been the National Cultural Monument.
After 17 years (in 1992) the museum opened its first exhibition entitled Collection of the Červený Kameň Museum. The south-west part was opened in 1993 and the south-east one in 1997.



This engraving by G. Morelli from the 17th century proves, that in that time all the reconstruction of the castle were finished and its characteristic shape was not changed since then.


The Spiš castle is one of the most extasive Slovak castles. It is a dominant feature of the Spiš reagion. It is beautifully placed in the countryside on a travertine rock. It had been mentioned by the 12th century as a regional castle. The main body of the castle was surrounded by a stone fortification in the first half of the 13th century. This enabled the castle to resist the raids of the tatars in 1241. A Romanesque palace and a dwelling tower were built in the castle in this time. The provost`s palace and a now non-existent Romanesque chapel were added after the middle of the 13th century. The castle was extended by the addition of the central coutryard with an entry gate and barbican in the 14th century. The extensive lower coutryard was built in the middle of the 15th century. Its construction is cenected with the army of Ján Jiskra of Brandýs who served King Ladislav Pohrobek ( 1445 - 1457).
Later it bolonged to the Thurzo family and then to the Zápoľský family and after the year 1636 to the Czáky family who owned it until 1945. During a fire in 1780 the castle suffered extensive damage and was not reconstructed afterwards. Extensive reseach, conservation and the installation of an exhibition hall in recent years has brought a new lease of life to this important monument and opened it to the public. In 1993 the castle together with the surroundings ( Spišské podhradie, Spišská kapitula, the church in Žehra ) were listed as important cultural and natural sites among more than 300 of the most important monuments in the world.




The Devín Castle in one of the most significant archaeological localities in Slovakia. It is a National cultural monument. Because of the advantageous geographical position, the height over the confluence of the Danube and the Morava rivers was settled as far back as the 5th century B.C. and cultural monuments from the surrounding areas overlapped here.
The oldest section of the present castle dates from the 13th century; it achieved its building peak in the 15th-16th century. Napoleon's soldiery destroyed it in 1809. The City Museum makes use of the reconstructed basement of the Renaissance palace for exhibition purposes. Since 1965 the City Museum has carried out here a systematic archaeological research.





The Strečno castle is first mentoned in the reign of Matúš Čák as a bigger center. It was built turn of 13th and 14th century, probably at an older base. As a royal property was held at the beggining of 15th century by queens Barbora and later Elizabeth. In 1444 - 1469 was property of Pongrác clan from Liptovský Mikuláš, then it was changing owners rapidly. In 17th century the castle was giving refuge to Thokoly uprising. Therefore outer walls of the castle were destroyed by the empire army of Leopold I. in 1698. Strečno is in ruins since then.


Beckov castle was built in 13th century a destroyed in 1729. It is the national cultural monument.



The Čachtice Castle is a castle ruin in Slovakia next to the village of Čachtice. It stands on a hill featuring rare plants, and has been declared a national nature reserve for this reason. The castle was a residence and later the prison of the world's most prolific female serial killer, the Countess Alžbeta (Elizabeth Báthory: 1560-1614).
Čachtice was built in the mid-13th century by Kazimir of the House of Hunt-Poznan as a sentry on the road to Moravia. Later, it belonged to Matúš Čák, of the Stibor zo Stiboríc family, and then to the famous Bloody Lady Elizabeth Báthory. Čachtice, it's surrounding lands and villages, was a wedding gift from the Nádasdy family upon Elizabeth's marriage to Ferencz Nádasdy in 1575. It is famous now because her sadism exceeded even the violence and cruelty normally permitted to powerful elites of the time. It is very likely she was insane, but the Countess Alžbeta's excesses were aided and abetted by her husband and others, and her murders ignored for years by her powerfully connected family.
Originally, Čachtice was a Romanesque castle with an interesting horse-shoe shaped residence tower. It was turned to a Gothic castle later and its size was increased in the 15th and 16th centuries. A Renaissance renovation followed in the 17th century. Finally, in 1708 the castle was captured and plundered by the rebels of Francis II Rákóczi. It has been in decay since.



Gothic castle of Vígľaš was built in the 14th century and at the end of the same century rebuilt into a hunting castle. It was rebuilt next time in the 18th century. During the WW2 - in 1945, it was badly damaged.



Ghotic castle in Šomoška is from 14th century. Was destroyed after 1703.



In Fiľakovo of 12-th century there was already the castle with square tower, palace and palisade on the volcanic top of a basalt rock 65m high. In 1551 it was enlarged and stronged. The middle and lower castle was built, with two pentagonal bastions, walls, entrance corridor and cannon positions. In the same time the town as well got the wall with the gates and bastions. The origin of the castle is connected with the tale about shepherd Filek, and his dog Fules, as they found treasure, from whith a castle was built. The old records says, that robber knight Fulko was the owner of the castle as long as the king Belo IV confiscated it in 1246. Then the Matúš Čák (1311-1321), qeen Elizabeth (1438) and Francis Bebek were the owners of the castle. The castle was a component of the defence line against the Turkish expansion in the 16-th century. In 1554 the Turks captured the castle and had been governing in and around Filakovo for 39 years. Counts Nicholas Pállfy and Christooph Tiefenbach liberated the castle and surroundings in 1593. Thre was a fire, which ruined a part oft the castle and town in 1615. Stephanus Koháry I got the castle from the emperor in 1657. His son, Stephanus Koháry II ordered to rebuild the ruined parts in 1667. Emerich Thököly, the reigning prince of Transsylvania with help of big Turkish army captured the castle in 1682. The castle was destroyed and since this year remained in ruins. Thököly was proclaimed the hungarian king here. Stephanus Koháry II after his liberation from Thököly's confinement ordered to build the new church and monastery in 1725. The last owners of the castle were Coburgs.



The Lietava castle was built after 1241, most likely as an administrative and military centre. In the early 14th century, it is mentioned with Matthew Csák. The castle changed hands until the 16th century when the Thurzo family gained it. It was reconstructed and fortified, and given its own military garrison. After the death of Imrich Thurzo in 1621, it was divided between his heirs. After the ownership disputes in 1641, they lost interest in it. The castle report in 1698 said that the castle was uninhabited and there was only an archive, which was moved to the Orava Castle in the 1760s. After that, the castle was abandoned and not used any more.


Likava castle built in the beginning of 14th century.



Ruins of a Gothic castle in Levice, which was build in the beginning of 13th century. It was rebuilt in a Renessaince style in 16th century. The castle was destroyed in 18th century. Nowadays, Tekov museum is located in preserved parts of the castle.


Bzovík fortificated monastery built in the 12th century. It was rebuilt in the 15th century and fortificated in the 16th century. The monastery was heavily damaged during WW2.



Komárno fortress is the biggest fortificated system in Slovakia and also in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Its contruction started in the 16th century by building the old fort on the place of a perished Komárno castle. In 1663-73 the new fort was build and connected with the old one by a bridge over a moat. The whole fortification system was modernised in the 19th century. National cultural memorial. Nowadays there are efforts to get it to the list of the world and cultural heritage UNESCO.







Lepoldov fortress was built in 1665-69. It was rebuilt into a prison after 1854.


Chateau in Budmerice built in 19th century by duke Ján Pálfy. Nowadays it is a centre of Slovak writers.


Prievoz



Neobaroque manor house in Spišský Hrhov was built for Vidor Csáky from 1893-1895. The exterior is remarkable for its interesting and impressive facade with an elegant stairway. Coats-of-arms belong to V. Csáky and his wife.




Rusovce Manor was built in 1843-50 near Bratislava for Count Emanuel Zichy-Ferraris and his English wife by prominent Viennese architect Franz Beer (1804-61) who is responsible also for famous Hluboka Castle in Bohemia. Beer, devoted to Windsor style designed Rusovce with two side wings bounding cour d'honneur. This approach is based on strong Central European Baroque tradition. Remarkable feature of the manor is large, two-storey tall stained glass window on the garden facade.



Galanta Manor was built in 1861 by unknown architect for Jozef Eszterhazy. This remarkable structure features a nascent eclecticism by combination of English and Venetian Gothic. One style is incorporated into another, creating harmonious unity without disturbing elements. There was built another anglo-venetian manor in Slovakia at the same time. Parchovany Manor,
burnt down in 1901, was characterized by triple Gothic inspiration - English, Venetian and French.



Manor house at Veľké Uherce in Central Slovakia was originally built as a Renaissance fortified castle with four round towers to protect the country against Turkish invasion. Between 1845-1860 I. Pichler rebuilt the castle in Gothic style for Count Keglevich. The exterior wasn´t changed too much – the most romantic feature are conical roofs on the top of two battlemented towers that give the manor special picturesque look in the manner of Gothick „castles of Otranto“. More alterations were executed inside the building, especially on piano nobile. Great amount of money were spent for carved, painted and gilded wooden decorations (ceilings, wall panelling). Design patterns were inspired by English Gothic (the chapel´s pendant hanging down) as well as Slovak 16th Century late Gothic – early Renaissance tradition plus some romantic Gothic fantasies can be found in there.
In 1865 the manor was sold to the Thonets, world-famous family that built up its reputation by mass production in furniture industry. One of the factories standed not far from the manor and great number of thonet chair no. 14 had been producing there. By the presence of the Thonets from 1860s to 1940s, Velke Uherce Manor became a house of considerable historical importance.




The Chateau at Markušovce is an extended exhibition of the Museum of the Spis Region at Spisska Nova Ves.
The main and most luxurious mansion house was built in the middle of the 17th century and originally had a defensive role. In the second half of the 18th century it was rebuilt as a luxurious rococo residence. There is a garden pavilion built on the prolonged axis of the mansion house in the surrounding park. Following its reconstruction (1984-1994) the mansion house contains an exhibition of historical furniture enriched with collections from other historical buildings in eastern Slovakia.
The mansion house stands in a French-style park with three graded terraces. A summer-house named Dardanelles stands on the highest of them - it holds an exhibition of keyboard musical instruments.



The museum specialises in documenting history of gentry. It sits in a past hunting palace of the Andrassy family (National Cultural Monument), which is situated in a large romantic park in Betliar.
The mansion was one of many other gentry houses of the family till 1945. The first building dates back to the first half of 15th century. Soon the building was enlarged. The present shape of the mansion was formed during the last reconstruction at the end of the last century thanks to Emanuel Andrassy.
Since the end of 18th century the family started forming, as it was common then among gentry families, a natural park closely corresponding to surrounding nature. Soon it was enlarged and filled in with many dendrology specialities, which now form 80-hectare complex park with many water and constructive attractions. In 1985 the authorities of the Slovak Republic said the whole area of the mansion in Betliar to be the National Cultural Monument as important cultural and historical inheritance of many centuries.


Formerly Late-Gothic castle of Topoľčianky (15th - 16th century) in Renaissance and Baroque style with Classicistic extensions. The castle has a Baroque chapel, period furniture, china and large collection of books.
Owner of this building is The Uniform property fond of trade unions (Jednotný majetkový fond odborových organizácií) in Slovakia.



Klátova Nová Ves



The centre of the historical settlement of Strážky - the chateau, the Church of St. Anne and the belfry - forms a national cultural monument and counts as one of the most precious architectural sights of the Spis region. The reconstructed chateau, located in the 19th century English park, shows the development of architectural styles ranging from late Gothic (15th century) to the Renaissance reconstruction and finally to Baroque-Classicist modifications (from the end of the 18th century). In the 16th - 18th centuries the chateau belonged to the Horvath-Stansith's, the family that founded, in that very building, the Latin humanistic school for the children of the Spis aristocracy (1584-1711) and the library, the largest in Hungary at that time. In the 19th century, the Mednyanszky's and the Czobel's became the chateau owners. After the death of the last owner and inhabitant of the chateau, Baroness M. Czobel, in 1972, the Slovak National Gallery became its custodian.
A variety of cultural programmes is offered to the local public. The chateau games are held in early summer. Visitors can spend a pleasant leisurely day in the large chateau and the adjoining English park bordering with the river Poprad. The exhibition of modern Slovak sculpture is installed in the park. The restaurant (open in summer from 15 June to 15 September), located in the courtyard, offers refreshments to the visitors.


The renaissance chateau in Moravany nad Váhom with typically curly attic is situated in the English park with a sculpture gallery from the hands of artists from all around the world. That sculptures were created here within international sculptures symposiums. The chateau serves as the House of Slovak Creative Artists. Moravany is an important archaeological location. It is well known by the finding of a statuette carved out of mammoth trunk – the Neolithic Venus from Moravany, the age of which is estimated at 22 800 years. The sculpture is in museum collections in Bratislava castle.


Vyšné Ružbachy



Spišský Štiavnik


A perished castle in Michalovce which was built in the 13th century. A mansion-house was built on its place in the beginning of the 17th century. Nowadays there is a museum of the Zemplin region. The museum describes history of the town and the region.


Classicist building in Dolná Krupá is a typical example of a luxurious feudal residence. It belonged to the Brunsvik family which had it built on older foundations in 1793-94 according to the project by the Vienese architect Hausmann. It was built in one style as atwo-storey building with an imposing facade facing a large English park.


Brunovce


The Muzeum in Svätý Anton was founded in 1962 when collections of the Forestry and Timber Museum were moved here from Zvolen.
The Museum is situated in late-baroque chateaux, the former residence of the aristocratic Koháry and Coburg, in the wonderful surroundings of an English Park with small lakes, cascades and an artificial cave. It accommodates an hunting exhibition, the only one of its kind in Slovakia, and a valuable art-historical exhibition with the original furnishings: valuable wall decorations, furniture, majolica tiled stoves, lustres and works of art. Golden furniture, a wedding gift of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, is the jewel of the exhibition. Every year the museum organizes the hunting festivity "Days of St. Hubert".





Perished water castle in Humenné. There is a mansion house on its place which was built in 1610 in a Renesaince style. At the end of the 19th century rebuilt in a Baroque style. It was renovated in 1972. Now there is an etnographic museum.


Nový chateau was a fort built in 1564-1571 to protect the town of Banská Štiavnica against Osmans. There is an exposition of the Slovak Mining Museum.


Mansion-house in Stupava built in Renessaince style.



The Halíč castle, which was built in 1612 on the place of the former castle destroyed in 1544. In 1709 destroyed by fire, 1762 rebuilt in Renessaince style. 1952-64 renewed.


Jasov fortified monastery built in the 12th - 13th century. In the 15th century rebuilt into a fort. In the monastery is the only baroque garden in Slovakia.




Bernolákovo


Šaštín-Stráže



Hronský Beňadik benedictine abbey played important role in the Christianization process and in the development of culture and education. It was founded in 1075 by King Géza I under the name "Monasterium Ecclesia Sancti Benedicti". The Nitra Gospels, the oldest Latin book (i.e. not just text) from the territory of Slovakia, were written here around 1100. The abbey ceased during the 16th century in the course of the Ottoman expansion in present-day Hungary. The church of the monastery contains valuable works of art (a wood-carving of the Holy Sepulchre, a wall-painting preenting the legend of St. George, an altar depicting the Passion, a sculpture of Jesus Christ from the 13th century, a Madonna sculpture from the 14th century, etc.). The abbey was declared a National Cultural Monument in 1945.



Červený kláštor (Red monastery) is situated in mountains close to the village of the same name.
It was inhabited by Cartesian and Camaldulsian monks in two phases. Between 1320 - 1563 it was a Cartesian monastery (founded by St. Bruno in 1084).
The very first Cartesian monastery in Slovakia was built at Kláštorisko in the Slovak Paradise (close to the Letanovce village) in 1305. Later in 1320, when the Cartesian monks gained the village Lechnica (in Pieniny mountains), they started to build up the second monastery - the Red Monastery. The name "Red" it gained according to its red roof.
Both monasteries were built deep in nature, because monks needed a calm place in order to practise meditations and ascetic way of life. Monks devoted a lot of time to writing copies of books by hand. After certain time they were awarded some privileges from Ungarian and Polish monarchs, such as the right to catch fishes in the Dunajec river, the right to use a water mill, to make beer etc.
Cartesian monasteries in the Spiš region started to be on the decline in the first half of the 16-th century. A squire of the pad, Matej Bašo, completely raided the monastery at Kláštorisko in the Slovak Paradise in 1543. The local monks firstly moved to the Red Monastery in Pieniny, but when it was raided by soldiers from the Dunajec castle (Nedeca) in 1545, they left the Red Monastery, too. The king Ferdinand I. decided to abolish the Cartesian monastery at the Lednica village in 1563.
As a result, in 1711 - 1782 the Red Monastery became a Camaldulsian monastery (founded by St. Romuald in 1012).
It was the Nitra bishop, Ladislav Maťašovský, who donated the monastery to the Camaldulsian monks. Shortly after they started to rebuild the building into the Baroque style (new houses of monks, baroque belfry and a reparation of a church). Camaldulsian monks, just like Carthesian monks, lived like hermits ascetic way of life. They kept bees, gathered healing plants and looked after ill people. They founded a pharmacy in 1754, which also became popular abroad - especially when it was directed by the monk Cyprián (1756 - 1775).
The emperor Joseph II. abolished the monastery as useless in 1782.