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Banská Bystrica City Castle

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The town castle was established next to the original mining settlement, which preceded the founding of the town. Already at that time there was a parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which later, at the end of the Middle Ages, became the center of a new fortress. The function of the town castle was to protect the proceeds from the mining of precious metals, especially copper and silver, and the royal treasury. The representative of the king and the church lived here, the city council met here.

Banská Bystrica City Castle

The town castle was established next to the original mining settlement, which preceded the founding of the town. Already at that time there was a parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which later, at the end of the Middle Ages, became the center of a new fortress. The function of the town castle was to protect the proceeds from the mining of precious metals, especially copper and silver, and the royal treasury. The representative of the king and the church lived here, the city council met here.

The individual buildings of various functions were enriched by a common fortification, which protected the patrician from external enemies and internal unrest, especially during the mining uprisings.
The area of the town castle consists of the church of the Virgin Mary, the so-called Matej's house, the so-called Slovak church, town hall, rectory building and stone fortifications with bastions, entrance gate with a barbican, which entered the area.
The oldest building is the late Romanesque parish church of the Virgin Mary from the second half of the 13th century. It was originally surrounded by a cemetery on which a Romanesque ossuary stood until the 19th century.

The burghers of Bystrice, inspired by the model of the town castle in Kremnica, fortified the area around the parish church in the last third of the 15th century and built other buildings belonging to the municipalities, the town administration and the king: the Gothic house of King Matej (also called Matej's house) was built in 1479. , town hall around 1500; Shortly before that, in 1492, the church of St. Kríža, also called the Slovak church, because mostly Slovak inhabitants used to come here, with a rich late Gothic entrance portal. The fortification consisted of a high stone wall and circular bastions. The most important part of the fortification was the entrance gate with a barbican, completed in 1512, which was entered through two gates, for carriages and for pedestrians. At that time, the parish church underwent an expensive building modification, which is still documented by a preserved oratory with a Gothic cross vault, the side chapel of St. Barbara and a late Gothic winged altar by Master Pavel of Levoča and a late Gothic bronze baptistery by Master Jodok. A typological interest is the portraits of saints, which illusively replaced the consoles under the vault in the presbytery. The interior of the church was very valuable in those times, hl. the altar was made by Master Paul of Levoča and was allegedly even more monumental than that of Levoča. However, it succumbed to a devastating fire in 1761; in 1767 it was replaced by a baroque altar with paintings by the important Austrian painter JL Kracker.

The collapsed vault was replaced by a Baroque, with an illusory architectural fresco in the presbytery by Anton Schmidt from 1767-1770. Typical silhouettes with onion-shaped copper roofs also date from this period.

After a while, they also incorporated the town hall into the town castle. In the second third of the 16th century, it underwent several building alterations, which gave it its present-day character. In 1546, it was substantially expanded and rebuilt. Soon after, in the years 1564-1565, Master Peregrinus modified its facade, including the old late Gothic loggia, and finished the building with a Renaissance attic with swallowtail tails.

In 2005, a complete reconstruction of the town castle took place. Since 2009, there is a café and restaurant in the castle.

Additional information

Transport: By foot, By bike, By car, By train, By bus
Parking: Free parking nearby

Accepted payments: Cash
Languages: Slovak

Suitable for: Childrens, Families with childrens, Elderly, Young, Adults
Season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
Updated on: 11.6.2019
Source: Wikipédia

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Banská Bystrica City Castle
Hrad Banská Bystrica
Námestie Š. Moysesa 38/10
974 01  Banská Bystrica
Region: Banskobystrický
District: Banská Bystrica
Area: Pohronie, Podpoľanie
 48.736719, 19.146524

Hrad Banská Bystrica
Námestie Š. Moysesa 38/10
974 01  Banská Bystrica

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