Table of Contents
Bojnice Castle
Intro
In the Eastern part of the Trenčín region of Slovakia, is the small town of Bojnice and the Bojnice Castle, or the Spirit Castle.
The original fort, on this location, was built sometime before, 1113, there are no known records of who actually built the fort. Over the next 200 years, the fort was upgraded to stone walls, and became a castle. Around 1303 Matthew III Csák took ownership of the castle, as a gift from Hungarian king Ladislaus V
It was not until the mid – late 15th century that the castle once again changed hands to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary who in 1489 gave it to his bastard son, John Corvinus , who was not the sharpest tool in the shed, was bamboozled out of the castle and his title by miss deeds of several
Castle
Hunyadi Era
(Still researching this section most of what I can find is in Slovak, and I am not even close to fluent in Slovak)
Pàlffy Era
During the Pelffy era, the residents primarily occupied the inner walls of the castle. These inner walls are roughly 7 meters wide, and encircle the entire castle, there are all the facilities that a castle owner might need, including guest apartments, ornate chapel, and mausoleum, formal gardens between the inner and outer walls.
Post Pàlffy Era
Apparently after his death, Jan Pàlffy’s heirs spent years after his death, stripping the castle of the castle of it’s valuable collections, instead of converting it to a museum as Jan had which and stated in his will
Owned the castle for the least amount of time, from 1939 to 1945 When the castle was seized by the new Czechoslovak communist government because that’s what commies do!
I don’t believe he had time to really do anything with the castle, since he was either in exile, during World War II, to avoid being captured by the nazi’s for assisting Jews to escape, and after the war, he was jailed by the communists for “not doing enough to fight the nazi’s, talk about you’re screwed either way!
Communist
The communists did what communists do best, they utilized the castle as an administrative facility because one thing commies do well, is administrate, which requires a lot of space, files, and files on all your fellow communists.
During this time, there was a fire in the castle, but it was put out quickly with minimal damage, which the commies repaired and restored poorly, it wasn’t until long after the creation of the independent Republic of Slovakia, that proper repairs were completed.
Slovakia
Upon the end of Communist rule, and the establishment of the Republic of Slovakia, the castle was transferred to the Slovakian National Museum, who is still responsible for its well being.
Castle Grounds
The grounds around the castle are known as “Castle Park” and are absolutely gorgeous, lush landscaping, and plenty of birds singing, even though our visit was in late September.
There are ducks and large fish of some kind swimming in the moat, couldn’t actually see them, but saw fairly large shadows swimming in schools of around a dozen or so fish, thought they may be carp, but really did not act like carp…
Outside the main gate is a tree that is still alive, this “Lipa” or Linden tree which was a favorite place for King Matthias Corvinus to relax and think about what should to solve various problems that confronted those in charge in that era.
Location
Links
Directions
If you are driving, just enter Bojnice, into either google maps or the recommended Mapy.cz, make sure you download the actual map data for the area, because cell coverage can be sketchy out in the country.
If you don’t have a car, you can take the train from Bratislava, but there is a trick to buying tickets in the ZZK app. The train does not go to Bojnice, it goes to Prievidza, and won’t pull up Bojnice, on the APP or the website you have to use Prievidza
It is a 4€ cab ride from the train station to the castle. There are buses that are inexpensive, less then a euro.
Walking is also an option, it is roughly 2 kilometers to the castle from the train station.
Pictures
Castle Exterior
The straight walls with all the windows were primarily the Pàlffy residence, while the taller circular towers are older Medieval structures. I really wish that I had better pictures of the roof, like with a drone, but you can kind of see what I am talking about here. The roof in one section looks like dragon scales, with gold colored lacework at the peak, you see roofs like this elsewhere in Slovakia,, and I think they are “veľmi pekné”
Castle Interior
The interior of the Bojnice castle is as beautiful as one would expect of a castle this beautiful, and it is hard to believe that the family broke up the fabulous collection of the castle, to fill their greedy pockets, yet there is still so much to see, I cannot imagine what it looks like in its heyday. I would have to say my favorites are the “Asian” room with its beautiful artifacts, and the Gold room with the 150+ unique golden angel faces.
Chapel
The ceiling of the Chapel in the Bojnice castle is ornately decorated, it had me in awe, I really do not have the words to describe it, so enjoy the pictures..
Travertine Cave
The following pictures are from the travertine cave, that the castle sits on. My camera and I were not in agreement on the settings on these pictures, I really think I needed a flash to overcome the lighting in the cave, but flash is 100% forbidden anywhere in the castle or the caves, and tripods are not really welcome. The well in the courtyard looking down, can be seen here
Summary
This beautiful castle and little town is worthy of a day or two of anyone’s time.
Bottom Line
Bojnice castle is well worth the time and effort it takes to get there, plan on a good 4 hours to see the entire castle, taking both tours. The tours are unguided, but there are 90 minute guided tours available for 150€, which includes admission for up to 4 people, and allows you to use tripods and such for photography, but no flash.
One response to “Slovakia Day 5 Beautiful Bojnice Castle”
Love, love, love this!!!!