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Budatín Castle is one of the oldest standing architectural monuments in the city of Žilina. The oldest medieval castle was built at the confluence of the Váh and Kysuce rivers in the second half of the 13th century. The first written mention that mentions it as the Budetyn castrum comes from 1321, when its owner Matúš Čák Trenčiansky died. It was built in marshy terrain on a low rock cliff, the area of which was extended by an artificial clay embankment.

Budatin Castle, Zilina

Budatín Castle is one of the oldest standing architectural monuments in the city of Žilina. The oldest medieval castle was built at the confluence of the Váh and Kysuce rivers in the second half of the 13th century. The first written mention that mentions it as the Budetyn castrum comes from 1321, when its owner Matúš Čák Trenčiansky died. It was built in marshy terrain on a low rock cliff, the area of which was extended by an artificial clay embankment.

The oldest castle consisted of a cylindrical tower with an entrance from the ground floor and other buildings made of wood and clay, the location of which, however, was not revealed by archaeological research. The castle was surrounded by a wall and a moat on the outside of the fortifications. However, the wall collapsed in the second half of the 15th century due to a bad foundation in an artificial embankment. In the second half of the 15th, or at the beginning of the 16th century, when the castle fell into the hands of the Suňog family, it underwent extensive reconstruction. At that time, a new wall and a new moat were built, which surrounded a much larger castle complex. The fortifications took place under a later Baroque palace with a chapel, under which the wall was broken and where the bastion was located at the same time. To the south, the castle wall formed the basis for the later southern terrace. New brick buildings were added to the fortified area, which were part of the so-called The upper castle. The wall itself was surrounded on the inside by a large building that formed the Lower Castle.

Further reconstructions took place under the Suňog family at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Reconstructions mainly affected the so-called Lower Castle. The wall lost its function and therefore it was dismantled. Renaissance buildings were replaced by new spaces. The castle thus acquired the appearance of a castle with Baroque elements as a result of the change of its main, defensive function to an economic one. Probably the most serious were the reconstructions in the 19th and 20th centuries under the last owners - the Čákis. During the fire in 1849, the southern and western parts of the Baroque palace were damaged, which they subsequently dismantled. The facades of the chateau also acquired a new look, as did the very core of the medieval castle. The entire ground floor of the tower was covered with building rubble and waste generated during these unscrupulous reconstructions. The Čáki family owned Budatín until 1945. From 1956, its premises became part of the Považský Museum.

Source: Budatínsky hrad, Žilina (1.9.2021)
Updated on: 1.9.2021

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Budatin Castle, Zilina
Žilina
Region: Žilinský
District: Žilina
Area: Horné Považie
 49.23638, 18.73449

Žilina

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