Krásna Hôrka Castle

The Krásna Hôrka Castle (Slovak: Hrad Krásna Hôrka, Hungarian: Krasznahorka vára) is a castle in Slovakia, built on a hilltop overlooking the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie near Rožňava, in Košice Region. The first recorded mention of the castle was in 1333. In 1961 Krásna Hôrka was designated a National Cultural Monument of the Slovak Republic. It was said to be one of the country's best-preserved

castles. On 10 March 2012 the castle was extensively damaged by fire.

Etymology

The name means "a beautiful mountain" (Slovak: krásna - beautiful, hôrka - a little mountain).

Unlikely but possible is a derivation from the word kras (karst), because the karst is in the neighbourhood.

History

The castle was built in the 13th century by the hungarian Ákos brothers[note 1] on a trade route leading from Transylvania through Košice to Spiš and today's Poland. The Ákos family (which later changed its name to Bebek) lived in Krásna Hôrka from the mid-13th century to 1566, apart from a short period when the Mariássy family seized control of the castle. In 1578 the castle passed into the hands of [the Hungarian] Péter Andrássy and remained in the possession of the Andrássy family up until 1918 (the year the First Czechoslovak Republic was founded).

During 2010 and 2011 the castle underwent renovation and was re-opened to public in April, 2011.Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help...