Old Castle (Banská Štiavnica)
| Old castle | ||
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 Aerial view of the old castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | City castle Banská Štiavnica | |
| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | existing | |
| Place: | Banská Štiavnica | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 27 '34.4 " N , 18 ° 53' 26.4" E | |
| Height: | 630 m nm | |
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The Old Castle ( Slovak Starý zámok ), also known as Stadtburg Banská Štiavnica (Slovak Mestský hrad v Banskej Štiavnici ), is a fortress in the central Slovak town of Banská Štiavnica (German Schemnitz ). It is located in the center of the town on the slope of Mount Paradajs at about 630 m nm and was built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries by rebuilding and fortifying the previous parish church.
The castle is one of the dominants of the city and the seat of the Slovak Mining Museum.
history
The core of the later fortress is the Virgin Mary Church, a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a west-facing tower from the early 13th century. After a strong earthquake in 1443, the church was rebuilt several times and fortified on a larger scale between 1492 and 1515. During the construction work, the St. Michael ossuary , also from the 13th century, and the Himmelreich residential tower from the 14th century were incorporated into the new building. Even then, the church received bastions and loopholes. When the Ottomans largely occupied what was then the Kingdom of Hungary after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, it was decided to hastily fortify the church that had just been rebuilt. During this work, the vault of the church was removed and the church was turned into a four-wing palace with an inner courtyard that replaced the main nave of the church. The previous church was raised by one floor and provided with corner towers.
Further work took place in the 1560s and the last major renovation in 1777, which mainly consisted of the baroque redesign of the entrance tower. When the function as a fortress disappeared in the 19th century , the building complex and its parts were used for various purposes: for the needs of the city police , as a city archive , library , gym , but also as an ice house for butchers . On July 1, 1900, the Old Castle became the seat of the City Museum and has been a national cultural monument since 1950.
Current condition
Since the fortress was not attacked by Ottoman or other troops after the reconstruction in the 16th century , it remained in its original state, apart from the entrance tower. Today the fortress houses the Slovak Mining Museum with an archaeological exhibition, a replica of a late Gothic altar by Master MS , a pipe and blacksmith's workshop , a clock exhibition, exhibitions of baroque sculpture and shooting targets, and a medieval torture chamber . There are also cultural programs and theater performances in the summer.
Web links
- Entry on pamiatky.net (Slovak)
- Side of the mining museum (English)
- Old castle Banská Štiavnica on slovakia.travel (German)