Blatnica Castle

Blatnica Castle ( sk, Blatnický hrad) is 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 A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

whose ruins are situated near the village of Blatnica, on the foot of the

Greater Fatra Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality * ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record * "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014 *Greater Bank, an Australian ...

Range 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 s ...

. The castle was built in the 13th century to protect a major trade route running from Nitra to the north. Soon afterwards it became a royal castle but the kings lost their interest in the castle's development after a new route, through

Mošovce Mošovce ( hu, Mosóc) is one of the largest villages in the historical region of Turiec, currently in the Turčianske Teplice District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. History Many preserved historical buildings are the evidence of th ...

and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

was built. The new owners of Blatnica Castle, the Révay family (from 1540), were more generous and the castle was significantly extended in the second half of the 16th century. The last reconstruction dated from 1744. Since 1790 the castle has been abandoned and has turned into ruins. The castle is built on typo low ridge of Plešovica which separates the Turiec Basin from the

Range. It is freely accessible from the village of Blatnica by a marked footpath. The castle remnants are hidden in a forest with limited views at the

Gader Valley Gader Valley () is a long valley in the Greater Fatra Range in Central Slovakia. It is accessible from the village of Blatnica. The valley is the gateway to the peaks of Tlstá Tlstá (meaning ''fat'' in Slovak) is a mountain in the ''Braln� ...

, which stretches underneath, and the opposite

Tlstá Tlstá (meaning ''fat'' in Slovak) is a mountain in the ''Bralná Fatra'' part of the Greater Fatra Range, measuring . It is located over the Turiec Valley, rising steeply nearly above the valley bottom. It has rugged slopes with many rock spire ...

Mountain.{{Castles in Slovakia Castles in Slovakia Buildings and structures in Žilina Region Ruined castles in Slovakia