Muráň Castle (; ), is a ruin of a medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

above the village of

Muráň Muráň (earlier ''Podmuráň'', , ) is a village and municipality in Revúca District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia. Geography The village is located around 9 km north of Revúca, in the Muráň river valley. The Muráň Plate ...

, in the Muránska planina National Park in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. The castle is noteworthy for its unusually high elevation of 935 m, making it the third highest castle in Slovakia. It also figures in several romantic legends about its owners. Murány Castle was built in the 13th century on a cliff overlooking a regional trade route. Its name was mentioned for the first time in 1271 ("''arx Mwran''"), when

Stephen V of Hungary Stephen V (, , ; before 18 October 1239 – 6 August 1272) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1270 and 1272, and Duke of Styria from 1258 to 1260. He was the oldest son of King Béla IV and Maria Laskarina. King Béla ...

ceded the castle to Gunig comes. One of its owners, the robber baron Mátyás Basó (or Bacsó, in Slovak: Matúš Bašo), transformed the castle into a stronghold of bandits who robbed merchants and looted villages. After a

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

by the royal army, the castle fell in 1548 and Basó was executed. One of the oldest Slovak songs, "The Song About The Castle of Muráň", written by Martin Bošňák describes this battle. Another owner was Mária Széchy, better known as "The Venus of Murány". This independent woman divorced her second husband to marry the love of her life,

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

Ferenc Wesselényi, the subsequent

Palatine of Hungary The Palatine of Hungary ( or , , ) was the highest-ranking office in the Kingdom of Hungary from the beginning of the 11th century to 1848. Initially, Palatines were representatives of the monarchs, later (from 1723) the vice-regent (vi ...

. When Wesselényi was besieging Murány Castle, which was occupied by her relatives at the time, she managed to get his soldiers inside through trickery. In 1666, Wesselényi organized a failed coup against Leopold I, but he died before any major confrontation. Subsequently, Mária Széchy bravely led a defense of the castle against imperial troops. Outnumbered, she eventually surrendered to Charles of Lorraine in 1670. After the

Treaty of Szatmár The Treaty of Szatmár (or the Peace of Szatmár) was a peace treaty concluded at Szatmár (present-day Satu Mare, Romania) on 29 April 1711 between the House of Habsburg emperor Charles VI, the Hungarian estates and the Kuruc rebels. It formal ...

, the importance of the castle declined, as did its general condition. It was damaged twice in the 18th century by fire, in 1702 and in 1760. The area was part of Gömör, then Gömör és Kishont County of Hungary. In 1920, under the terms of the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

it became part of the newly formed

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

References

External links

Short description of Muráň Castle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muran Castle Castles in Slovakia Buildings and structures in Banská Bystrica Region