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.
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.
