Krásna Hôrka Castle

A triangular fortress on a conical hill

Krásna Hôrka rises on a steep, near-conical hill above the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie, near Rožňava in eastern Slovakia. From the air its plan tells its whole military story: an inner medieval core of tower and palace, wrapped by a later triangular enceinte with semicircular bastions at the corners, and below that a spread of lower courtyards, a chapel and service buildings that record four centuries of expansion. It has been a national cultural monument since 1961.

Guarding the mining roads

The castle was raised in the 14th century — the first written record dates to 1333 — to protect the medieval road running through the mining districts of the Slovak Ore Mountains. It probably stands on the site of an older hill-fort. Over its history it belonged to three noble families in turn: the Máriássy, the Bebek, and finally the Andrássy, who held it for centuries.

The decisive rebuilding came in the mid-16th century, when the Ottoman advance and the wars over the Hungarian throne pushed František Bebek to modernise the defences to designs by the Italian architect A. de Vedano. The old castle was enclosed within the new triangular fortress, and heavy cannons cast in 1545 and 1547 still stand on its terrace. The Andrássy family acquired the castle by charter in 1642 and gradually turned the upper castle into a stately residence while completing the lower works.

From residence to museum

A fire in 1818 damaged the castle, but rather than abandon it the Andrássy family restored it and, in 1857, opened it as one of the earliest family museums in the region, accessible to the public after 1875. Its baroque chapel, converted from a cannon bastion in 1770, holds an Andrássy crypt. The family kept the castle until 1945, after which it passed to the state and continued as a museum of fortification and noble life.

The 2012 fire and the long restoration

On 10 March 2012 a fire broke out when open flame — grass being burned on the slopes below — ignited the scrub of the castle hill and spread to the shingle roofs. The roofs, the exposition in the upper Gothic palace and the bell tower were destroyed, and a ceiling collapsed in the congregation hall. Firefighters saved about 90 percent of the collection, but the damage was estimated at around eight million euros. A temporary wooden roof was fitted by December 2012, and a lengthy reconstruction has continued since, with the lower and middle castle expected to reopen to visitors and the upper castle to follow after extensive archaeological work. From above, the fresh timber of the rebuilt roofs marks how much of the silhouette had to be raised again.

• Location: above Krásnohorské Podhradie, near Rožňava, Košice Region, Slovakia

• Built: 14th century (first recorded 1333); triangular fortifications from the mid-16th century

• Owners: Máriássy, Bebek and Andrássy families

• Highlights: Triangular Renaissance enceinte; 16th-century cannons; baroque chapel and Andrássy crypt

• Status: National cultural monument (1961); heavily damaged by fire in March 2012 and under restoration

• Visiting: Partly closed for reconstruction — check current access before travelling