The Trenčín Castle (, ) is a castle above the town of
Trenčín
Trenčín (, also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a List of towns in Slovakia, city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech Republic, Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a populati ...
in western
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 ...
.
History
The history of the castle goes back to the age of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, testified by the inscription telling about the victory of the II. Roman legion at ''Laugaricio'' (the Latin name of Trenčín) in 179 AD.
The oldest building is a stone
rotunda, plausibly founded in the
Great Moravia
Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...
n period. In the midst of the 13th century the castle was the seat of the Baron
Jakab Cseszneky, who was King
Béla IV
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 may refer to:
Places in the Cze ...
's
swordbearer. Later in the 13-14th century, the castle became the residence of
Matthew III Csák
Máté Csák or Matthew III Csák (between 1260 and 1265 – 18 March 1321; , ), also Máté Csák of Trencsén (, ), was a Hungarian oligarch who ruled ''de facto'' independently the north-western counties of Medieval Hungary (today roughly th ...
, the legendary "Lord of the river
Váh
The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...
and the
Tatra Mountains". He gave name to the Máté Tower, a
keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...
dominating both the castle silhouette as well as that of the town.
In 1335 the
Treaty of Trentschin
The Treaty of Trentschin was concluded on 24 August 1335 between King Casimir III of Poland and King John of Bohemia together with his son Margrave Charles IV. The agreement was reached by the agency of Casimir's brother-in-law King Charles I of ...
was concluded at the castle between King
Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...
, King
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia in the union with Hungary, Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel of A ...
and King
John of Bohemia
John of Bohemia, also called the Blind or of Luxembourg (; ; ; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting ...
.
The negotiations were attended personally by king John of Bohemia, his son Charles (the future Holy Roman emperor
Charles IV) and Charles I of Hungary. King of Poland Casimir III was represented by his deputies.
Within the precincts of the lower castle can be found the water well, also known as the "well of love". Which according to legend was dug by a
Turkish prince called Omar, who had great love for the beautiful Fatima, whom he had to redeem by digging a well in the rock. In fact the well was dug by a garrison in the 16th century, it took them 40 years and is approximately 80 m deep.
Present
The castle houses exhibitions of the Trenčín Museum, documenting the history of the region and of the castle – exhibitions of historic furniture, weapons, pictures and other artifacts as well as a castle gallery, archaeological collections and findings. The castle is protected as a National Cultural Monument of Slovakia. In 2006, it attracted about 100,000 visitors.
Further reading
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trencin Castle
Castles in Slovakia
Buildings and structures in Trenčín
Museums in Trenčín Region
History museums in Slovakia
Tourist attractions in Trenčín Region