Central Slovakia

BANSKA STIAVNICA - town castle

The site of the castle dominates over the Middle Slovakia metropolis. It includes the church of St. Cross, defence walls of the town castle, Late Romanian church of Virgin Mary, the Town Hall originally Gothic and later reconstructed in the Renaissance style, and the Late Gothic Mathias House from 1479. It should protect the incomes from mining precious metals (copper and silver) and the royal treasury. Today, the former Town Hall in the area serves as the rooms for the Middle Slovakia District Gallery with regularly held biennale of graphics.

BANSKA STIAVNICA - New Castle

In 1564 -1571 the New Castle had been under construction as a counterpoise to the Old one and as a part of the bailey of the town, Nowadays both serve for the Slovak Mining Museum giving displays tracing the history of battles against Turkish expansion. The site is listed in the Register of the World Culture Heritage of UNESCO.

BOJNICE - chateau

The now most visited chateau in Slovakia was owned at the break of the 13th century by a well-known conqueror Matus Cak Trenciansky. Later it was often changing its owners. The today appearance is the result of a reconstruction at the break of the 19th and 20th centuries, copying the French romantic chateaux on the Loire. It is surrounded by parks with mighty trees. Parks include a ZOO, a botanic garden and a chateau's "private" cave. The interiors of the chateau contain sets of Neo-Gothic features, historic furniture, porcelain, paintings and house complements. One of the original parts of the chateau is the Chapel with wonderful stucco vault and fresco paintings from 1662. Various activities and special programmes take place at the chateau, for example Knight Days or The International Feast of Ghosts and Scarecrows.

Tel: +421/46/543 06 24, www.bojnicecastle.sk, marketing@bojnicecastle.sk

KREMNICA - town castle

Kremnica ducats, the medium for payment most searched for in Europe in the past, had been minted since 1335 in Kremnica, an important medieval mining town. The most ancient coin factory has been in operation till today. The most significant edifice dominating the town is the complex of the town castle from the end of the 14th century involving a two-store Roman roundhouse of St. Ondrej, Gothic church of St. Catherine, Gothic double bailey with a gate and three strongholds, and remains of a Gothic Town Hall within the protective walls. On the southern side of the square, in the middle of the historic site, the Museum of coins and medals is situated, containing rich numismatic collections.

Tel: +421/45/674 21 21, 6743968

ORAVSKY PODZAMOK - Orava castle

The Thurza family had rebuild the initially guard royal fortress into a present form of the most picturesque castles in Slovakia towards the end of the 16th and in the beginning of the 17th centuries. It is divided into the upper, central and lower parts. In 1800, the castle fired down, nevertheless, preservation and reconstruction works saved him from decomposition. It is now the host of the Orava Museum, one of the oldest Slovak museums, acquainting the visitors with style furniture, sculptures, paintings, dresses, weapons and trophies as well as with the history of Orava region and the castle itself, accompanying with an archeologic exposition. One of the most important Renaissance sculptures in Slovakia, the tomb of Juraj Thurza (1616), is displayed in the castle chapel.

Tel: +421/43/5893193, 043/5816111

STRECNO - castle

The picturesque ruins of a Gothic castle on a towering rock on the left bank of the Vah river proved to be the most secure fortress in the region of upper Povazie, It is deemed to be build by Matús Cak in the 14th century. In the 17th century it was destroyed by the Imperial army. From the top of the castle rock the ruins of the old Starhrad castle can be seen, and there is also a nice view on the Domasin meander, a rare natural monument in the Mala Fatra National Park.

Tel: +421/41/5697400, 041/5697405

SVATY ANTON - manor-hause

Settlement of the Late Baroque with a large-scale English park was built for the Koháry family in the 18th century. Four wings of the building symbolise the four seasons, 12 chimneys stand for months, 52 rooms represent weeks, and there are exactly 365 windows. Today, it is the domicile of the Forestry, Lumbering and Hunting Museum possessing numerous weapons and trophies. In the beginning of September every year the Hunting Festival is organised under the name Days of St. Hubert.

ZVOLEN - chateau

In the second half of the 14th century, the Hungarian king Ludovit 1st de Anjou had built a Gothic hunting settlement reminding the Italian town architecture of noble palaces. In the 16* century it had been rebuilt for a Renaissance style. There is a lapidary of Gothic art in the ground floor, and on the first floor the display continues with Europe art of the 16th - 18th cent, from collections of The Slovak National Gallery. From among the most impressing can be mentioned the works of P. P. Rubens, P. Veronese, V. Hogarth, and others. Every summer a feast called The Zvolen Castle Games is held.

Tel: +421/45/532 19 03

ZILINA - Budatinsky zamok (manor-house)

Budatin manor-house is build upon the confluence of the Vah and the Kysuca to the north of the centre of the town of Zilina. The tower of the castle was initially an observatory from a custom and toll house from the 13th century. The present form dates back to the beginning of 30-ies of the 20th century. In the interiors you can see five expositions of the Povazie region museum, one of which displays a unique tinker art pieces, deemed to be the only in the world.

Tel: +421/41/5621943

Visit also …

BANSKA BYSTRICA - RADVAN TOWN O.UARTER - three castles of Gothic-Renaissance, Late Renaissance and Neogothic with an exposition of paintings with nature motifs were built by the families Radvansky, Barcy and Tihany, respectively.

BANSKA STIAVNICA - old castle - The all around visible point of the town is the Renaissance anti-Turkish fortress built up from initially Roman-Gothic church, charnel-house, and a bailey. The Old Castle was built in the 16th century.

BESENOVA - displays of the Liptov region museum in the manor of Renaissance-Baroque.

BLATNICA - ruins of the 13th century castle; Baroque-Classicist manor-house with displays of the K. Plicka photographs.

BYTCA - manor-house - The Renaissance manor-house was built on the place of a former Gothic castle in the 16th century.

DIVIACKA NOVA VES - a Renaissance manor-house with an older, Gothic core

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FlLAKOVO - ruins with a tower and a bastion above the town.

LIETAVA - large-scale and relatively well preserved ruins of a castle.

KRASNANY - Renaissance manor-house hosting a natural history exposition of the Povazie region museum.

KYSUCKE NOVE MESTO - RADOLA - Renaissance thane settlement with history display of Kysuce region museum.

LIPTOVSKY MIKULAS - PALUDZKA - Juraj Janosik, the most famous Slovak bush-ranger, was imprisoned in the Renaissance manor in Vranovo in 1713. Today a museum. Rococo-Classicist manor-house Bocian is converted to a hotel.

MODRY KAMEN - ruins of a Gothic castle; Baroque manor-house with an ethnographic exposition and a museum of dolls and toys.

MOSOVCE - manor-house - A Baroque - Rococo chateau (the second half of the 18th cent.) with an English park.

OSCADNICA - a manor-house in a natural park from 1910, the headquarters of Kysuce region gallery with collections of art of the region.

SLOVENSKA LUPCA - retained castle from the 13th century, several times rebuilt, on a tall rock near the village.

SIATORSKA BUKOVINKA - ruins of Somoska castle on a basalt hill that is a State National Reserve with rare vegetation.

VYSNY KUBIN - Orava region gallery displays in the Renaissance manor-house, modified in Baroque style.