The Khust Castle ( uk, Хустський замок; hu, Huszti vár) is an abandoned castle located in the city of
Khust
Khust ( uk, Хуст; hu, Huszt) is a city located on the Khustets River in Zakarpattia Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. It is near the сonfluence of the Tisa and Rika Rivers. Serving as the administrative center of Khust Raion (district), ...
in
Zakarpattia Oblast
The Zakarpattia Oblast ( uk, Закарпатська область, Zakarpatska oblast) is an administrative oblast located in western Ukraine, mostly coterminous with the historical region of Carpathian Ruthenia. Its administrative centre is ...
(
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
) in western
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
The former Hungarian castle lays on a 150-meter high mountain near the center of the city.
The construction of the castle is believed to have started around 1090, during the reign of the Hungarian King St.
Ladislaus I and it was finished in 1191, under the
Béla III
Béla may refer to:
* Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater
* Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name
See also
* Bela (disambiguation)
* Belá (disambiguation)
* Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...
.
The castle was built as a fortress to protect the salt road from
Solotvyno
Solotvyno (also Solotvina) ( uk, Солотвино, hu, Aknaszlatina and hu, Faluszlatina, ro, Slatina, rue, Солотвино, yi, סעלאָטפֿינע (Selotfine), sk, Slatinské Doly) is an urban-type settlement in Tiachiv Raion in Z ...
, including the Khust Gate, and the border areas.
The
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
traveler
Evliya Çelebi
Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...
mentions the castle: "The Khust castle is located at the top of Mount Hassan. Its walls are high and thick, and with its power it is similar to the Iskander fortress, because its height already reaches the sky. Residential buildings facing east face one above the other. The roofs of the palaces are covered with colored tiles, the roofs of the churches - iron, the crosses on them - of pure gold and so shine that the one who looks at them gets tired eyes and is forced, with respect for them, to lower their gaze."
After the defeat of the
Hungarian army in the
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...
in 1526, The Kingdom of Hungary fell apart and the castle in Khust became a part of the Principality of Transylvania.
History
![Huszti var alaprajza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Huszti_var_alaprajza.JPG)
On the outskirts of the city of Khust rises a mountain of volcanic origin, on which in the 11–12th centuries. a castle-fortress was built. From 1281 to 1321 the fort belonged to the
Principality of Galicia–Volhynia
A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
. In 1480,
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 ...
of
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
gives the castle to his wife,
Queen Beatrice of Aragon. In 1511,
Vladislaus II leased Khust Castle with all his possessions for rent to Gábor Perényi for 20,000 gold. In 1669 the commandant of the castle, Mihály Katona, made his inventory, which included 50 guns, several tons of gunpowder, 3,000 cores in 3 warehouses. In 1709 an all-
Transylvanian Diet
The Transylvanian Diet (german: Siebenbürgischer Landtag; hu, erdélyi országgyűlés; ro, Dieta Transilvaniei) was an important legislative, administrative and judicial body of the Principality (from 1765 Grand Principality) of Transylvania ...
of the supporters of Prince
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 ...
took place in the castle.
In the 16–17th centuries, Khust and his castle were often fought by the Habsburgs and the princes of Seven, attacked by the Turks and Tatars. The last combat performance of Khust garrison took place in 1717, when soldiers attacked a 12,000th Tatar horde near Vyshkov.
The castle was destroyed by lightning strikes during a storm - one of them in 1766 fell into powder warehouses. The mayor tried to keep the lock, started repairing it, but it turned out to be hopeless. In 1773, Empress
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
sent her son
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
to inspect the castle. He ordered the garrison to be transferred to
Mukachevo
Mukachevo ( uk, Мукачево, ; hu, Munkács; see name section) is a city in the valley of the Latorica river in Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in Western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion (district), the city ...
.
In 1798 a storm damaged the last tower of the castle. Authorities gave the local community permission to dismantle the castle on the building stones. In 1799 , the eastern wall of the castle was demolished for the construction of the Catholic Church and various official buildings in Khust.
Hungarian poet
Ferenc Kölcsey
Ferenc Kölcsey (archaically English: Francis Kolcsey, 8 August 1790 in Sződemeter – 24 August 1838) was a Hungarian poet, literary critic, orator, and politician, noted for his support of the liberal current in Hungary regarding the poli ...
wrote his famous epigram (''Huszt'') about the ruins of the castle in 1831.
Kölcsey-emléktáblát avattak Huszton
/ref>
Today
Only ruins remain. It is possible to walk to the castle from Khust via an uphill trail that starts near the park on the south edge of the city. The trail begins with flat cobbles and transitions to dirt near the top. It is a 25-minute walk from the center of Khust to the top of the hill. The castle hill offers views of Khust and the surrounding area.
References
The history of the Khust castle
{{Castles in Ukraine
Khust Raion
Ruined castles in Ukraine
Buildings and structures in Zakarpattia Oblast
Buildings and structures completed in 1191