Krásna Hôrka Castle

Krásna Hôrka ; Krasznahorka
	The castle of the municipality Krásnohorské Podhradie of view
Creation time :	14th Century
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Reconstruction after fire in 2012
Place:	Krásnohorské Podhradie
Geographical location	48 ° 39 '30 " N , 20 ° 36' 1" E Coordinates: 48 ° 39 '30 " N , 20 ° 36' 1" E

The Krásna Hôrka Castle , in Hungarian Krasznahorka, is a hilltop castle above the municipality of Krásnohorské Podhradie ( Okres Rožňava , Košický kraj ), about six kilometers east of Rožňava . It was owned by three important Hungarian families: Mariássy, Bebek and Andrássy. It has been listed as a national cultural monument of Slovakia since 1961 and is the location of a museum. In the castle you will find an original castle kitchen as well as historical instruments in the music hall. In the castle chapel you can see the naturally mummified body of Countess Žofia Serédy, wife of a former lord of the castle.

Surname

The name Krásna Hôrka literally means "beautiful little mountain".

history

Interior

The castle was built to protect a trade route in the 14th century in the Gothic style on the site of an older fortification from the 13th century. However, at the beginning it is difficult to speak of a castle in the current sense, as only a Gothic donjon stood on the Kalkberg. The castle was first mentioned in 1333. The castle originally belonged to the Mariássy family, then until 1566 to the Bebeks family. Disputes between these sexes raged through the Middle Ages, mainly because of the rich natural resources in the area. In the 1540s, due to the risk of Turkish attacks, the complex was converted into a fortress on the plan of an irregular triangle with three bastions. In 1542 the Sabbatarian Anabaptist Andreas Fischer (Slovak name form: Ondrej Fischer ), who was condemned as a heretic , was thrown from the wall here.

After the Bebek family died out, the castle became imperial property and was administered by castellans . Long-time caretakers of the castle were castellans from the Andrássy family, but it was only from 1642 and finally until 1945 that it belonged to the Andrássys , who began to convert the castle into a noble residence. After 1710, it was rebuilt together with Betliar Castle . In 1817 the castle burned down after a lightning strike, but was quickly rebuilt. However, it was only a matter of necessary reconstruction work and a complete repair was not carried out until the 1960s. A museum about the history of the noble family was founded in 1857, and the property was renovated between 1903 and 1905. The entire castle complex was nationalized in the course of the Beneš decrees in 1945 and classified as a national cultural asset of Czechoslovakia in 1948 . The castle has been a national cultural monument since 1961, and since 1996 it has been managed by the Slovak National Museum as part of the Betliar Museum .

Fire from 2012

The castle after the fire in 2012

The castle was severely damaged in a major fire on March 10, 2012. The entire roof structure including three bells in the bell tower burned out; the upper castle complex was badly damaged. According to the Slovak National Museum, 90% of the historical exhibits have been saved. The cause was a grass fire on the castle slope that jumped onto the shingle roof. According to police investigations, two boys, 11 and 12 years old, are suspected of carelessly setting fire to the weed while trying to light a cigarette.

After the fire, the roofs were re-covered with sheet copper. The museum is still closed. (As of 2019)