The Castle of Csesznek lies in the

Bakony Bakony () is a mountainous region in Transdanubia, Hungary. It forms the largest part of the Transdanubian Mountains. It is located north of Lake Balaton and lies almost entirely in Veszprém county. The Bakony is divided into the Northern and ...

between

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

and

Zirc Zirc (german: Sirtz) is a town in Veszprém county, Hungary. It is the administrative seat of Zirc District. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Jews lived in Zirc. In 1910, 92 Jews lived in Zirc, Some of them w ...

in the village of

Csesznek Csesznek (; german: Zeßnegg, hr, Česneg, sk, Česnek) is a village in Zirc District Zirc ( hu, Zirci járás) is a district in north-eastern part of Veszprém County. ''Zirc'' is also the name of the town where the district seat is found. Th ...

. The castle was constructed after the

Mongol invasion of Europe From the 1220s into the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, Alania, and the Kievan Rus' federation. Following this, they began their invasion into heartland Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of ...

around 1263 in a period where many castles were built. The first castle was built by Jakab Cseszneky of the Bána clan. The first written mention of the castle is in a document from 1281 that gives Jakab Cseszneky's sons joint ownership of the castle. In 1315 the Csák clan conquered the castle. In 1392

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

gave the castle and 31 surrounding villages to the

Garai family Garai or Garay ( hr, Gorjanski) were a Hungarian-Croatian noble family, a branch of the Dorozsma (Durusma) clan, with notable members in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were lords of Csesznek. Origin The family was descended from the Dorozsma ...

. The castle was owned by the Garai family until 1482. Then

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

donated the castle to

Stephen Zápolya Stephen Zápolya ( hu, Szapolyai István; died on 23 December 1499), was Palatine of Hungary, Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary between 1492 and 1499. He married Polish princess Hedwig of Cieszyn on 11 August 1483 (his second marriage), by whom ...

References

Official website

2014 Summer in Csesznek
– Cultural events
Civertan Areal photos from the castle

Civertan photo collection

Csesznek
– Model of the castle
Areal photos from year 2017-2018
{{Castles in Hungary Castles in Hungary