Spiš Castle in Slovak: Spišský hrad (Leálo spishski jrad)
At 634 meters above sea level, on a mountain of calcareous rocks that exceeds the surrounding terrain by about 200 meters, is the Spiš Castle.
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| Spiš Castle |
The castle is a witness to the development of architecture between the s. XII and the s. XVIII. It is one of the largest castles in central Europe (it has an area of 41,426 m2). The castle, together with the surrounding religious buildings (Spisská kapitula), is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
Spiš Castle, The place where the castle is was inhabited since prehistoric times. Around the year 0 there was a construction of the Puchov culture which was protected by earth walls, due to its size it can be assumed that already at that time it was an administrative center of the entire Spiš region.
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| Spiš Castle |
The Castle began to be built in the s. XII and it was always a place where different battles took place. In 1443 the castle was obtained by Jan Jiskra de Brandýs Hungarian magnate who defended the right to succession of Ladislav Pohrobka, son of King Albert Habsburg and Elizabeth daughter of Sigismund of Luxembourg, who was born after the death of her father, which originated a war of succession.
In 1464 the king gave this castle to Štefan Zápolský, a great Hungarian magnate who despite having 70 castles took the castle of Spiš as his center. It was he who modernized the castle. The last Hungarian king before the Hasburgs, Ján Zápolský was born in this castle. Ján Zapolský contested the Hungarian crown with the Hasburgs until his death. After the death of Zápolský the Hasburgs confiscated the castle. Then the castle belonged to the Turzo family. The last owners were the Csaky family, who had it until 1945.
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| Spiš Castle |
The castle burned down in 1780 and has remained a ruin ever since. For more than 20 years the castle has been rebuilt.
The castle is open to the public from May 1 to October 31. It is used frequently in medieval movies.
The opening hours are from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm (the last entry is allowed at 6:00 pm)
A ten minute walk from the castle there is a parking lot where you can leave your car. If you walk from the village under the castle (Spišské podhradie) it will take about an hour.
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| Spiš Castle |
The ruins of the Spiš Castle are located in eastern Slovakia being one of the largest castles in Central Europe. The castle crowns a hill above the town of Spišské Podhradie and the village of Žehra, in the region known as Spiš (Szepes). It was included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage Sites in 1993 along with the locations of Spišská Kapitula, Spišské Podhradie and Žehra. In 2009, the protected site was expanded to include the historic center of Levoča.