Budatín Castle

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Budatín Castle, November 2005

The Budatín Castle (Slovak: Budatínsky zámok) is a castle in north-western Slovakia, near the city of Žilina, where the Kysuca river flows into the Váh river.

[edit] History

It was built as a guarding castle in second half of the 13th century near the place, where Kysuca flows into the Váh, where the toll was collected. At the beginning of the 14th century, originally royal fortress passed into the hands of Matthew Csák and the castle, especially towers were fortified, and inside the fortress a new palace was built.

Since 1487, the new owner of the castle was Gašpar Sugoň, who owned it until the end of the 18th century. At the half 16th century, the castle was rebuilt according the Renaissance style. Turkish threat from the south, but more uprisings at the beginning of the 17th century forced Sugoň to fortify the castle in the Renaissance style. At that time, the Gothic castle was changed into comfortable Renaissance palace. During the Baroque in the 17th century, effort was concentrated on building a chapel and finishing various building of the castle and surrounding it by the park. After the Sugoň family died, the new owners were the Csákys, who owned the castle until 1945. During the revolutions of 1848/1849, imperial troops seriously damaged the castle, which was repaired in 1870, and was serving as a barracks. The park's size was reduced by the construction of Košice-Bohumín Railway in 1872. The last major reconstruction was done in the 1922-1923, based on the historical and romantic motives. Today, the castle houses three exhibitions of the Považie museum.