Čachtice Castle (; sk, Čachtický hrad, hu, Csejte vára) is a castle ruin in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
next to the village of
Čachtice. It stands on a hill featuring rare plants, and has been declared a national nature reserve for this reason. The castle was a residence and later the prison of the Countess
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed ( hu, Báthori Erzsébet, ; sk, Alžbeta Bátoriová; 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the family of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of ...
.
Čachtice was built in the mid-13th century by Kazimir from the
Hont-Pázmány
Hont-Pázmány (Hunt-Poznan) was the name of a ''gens'' ("clan") in the Kingdom of Hungary. The '' Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum''mentions that the ancestors of the family, the brothers Hont (Hunt) and Pázmány (Pazman), originally from the Duchy ...
gens
In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...
as a sentry on the road to
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
Th ...
. Later, it belonged to
Matthew Csák, the
Stibor Stockholm Interbank Offered Rate (or STIBOR) is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the Swedish wholesale money market (or interbank market). STIBOR is the average (with ...
family, and then to Elizabeth Báthory. Čachtice, its surrounding lands and villages, was a wedding gift from the
Nádasdy family upon Elizabeth's marriage to Ferenc Nádasdy in 1575.
Originally, Čachtice was a
Romanesque castle with an interesting horseshoe-shaped residence tower. It was turned into a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
castle later and its size was increased in the 15th and 16th centuries. A
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
renovation followed in the 17th century. In 1708 the castle was captured by the rebels of
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confedera ...
. It was neglected and burned down in 1799. It was left to decay until it was turned into a tourist attraction in 2014.
In popular culture
* Along with the
Orava Castle, the Čachtice Castle was used as the location for Count Orlok's castle in ''
Nosferatu
''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ( ...
''.
* A slightly dressed up version of Čachtice is used for the exterior shots of Baron Gorc's castle in the 1981 Czechoslovakian comedy ''
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians
''The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians'' ( cs, Tajemství hradu v Karpatech) is a 1981 Czech comedy film directed by Oldřich Lipský. It is based on Jules Verne's novel ''The Carpathian Castle''.
Production
The film marks Lipský's third ...
''.
* Čachtice was used as the castle ruins set featured in the opening sequence of the 1996 fantasy movie ''
Dragonheart
''Dragonheart'' (stylized as ''DragonHeart'') is a 1996 fantasy adventure film directed by Rob Cohen and written by Charles Edward Pogue based on a story created by him and Patrick Read Johnson. The film stars Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pet ...
'' by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
starring
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
.
* Čachtice Castle was featured in the "Castle of the Blood Countess" episode of the ABC Family show ''
The Scariest Places on Earth
''Scariest Places on Earth'' is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 23, 2000, to October 29, 2006, on Fox Family, and later ABC Family. The show was hosted by Linda Blair, with narration by Zelda Ru ...
'', as well as the August 2008 episode "Tortured Souls" on the
SyFy channels series ''
Ghost Hunters International
''Ghost Hunters International'' (abbreviated as ''GHI'') is a spin-off series of '' Ghost Hunters'' that aired on Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi). The series premiered on January 9, 2008, and ended on April 4, 2012. Like its parent series, ''GHI'' was ...
''.
*
Juraj Jakubisko
Juraj Jakubisko (born 30 April 1938) is a Slovak film director. He has directed fifteen feature films, between 1967 and 2008. He often takes the dual role of cinematographer, and is often also credited as a screenplay writer as he usually co-writ ...
's 2008 film ''
Bathory'' is set in Čachtice Castle, where some scenes were filmed.
Gallery
File:Csejtecivertanlegi2.jpg
File:Csejtecivertanlegi1.jpg
File:Csejtecivertanlegi3.jpg
File:Csejtecivertanlegi4.jpg
File:Slovakia Cachtice hrad 2.JPG
File:Čachtický hrad a Višňové.jpg
References
Further reading
In English:
*
*
*
*
In French:
*
In German:
*
In Hungarian:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
In Slovak:
*
*
External links
The Bloody Countess?- Translation of Dr. Szádeczky-Kardoss Irma's job
The Lies about Elizabeth Bathory- Inquest of National Geographic Channel
Slovakia Cachtice (Bathory) Castle (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cachtice Castle
13th-century fortifications
Buildings and structures demolished in 1799
Romanesque architecture in Slovakia
Castles in Slovakia
Ruined castles in Slovakia
Nádasdy family
Buildings and structures in Trenčín Region
Elizabeth Báthory
Burned buildings and structures