Spiš Castle (Slovakia)

It 's the largest medieval castle in central Europe. It was built in the twelfth century on the ruins of an old Slavic village. In the first part of the thirteenth century, the castle was protected by a stone fortification, whereby it has withstood the attack of the Tartars in 1241.

In the same century the fortification was strengthened mainly by Italian masters who worked on the construction of the Spisska Kapitula. Of the thirteenth century it is the Romanesque palace, the round Gothic tower, the Romanesque doors and the Romanesque chapel, which is not saved.

These monuments are located in the yard higher. In the fourteenth century during the reign of Louis (the son of Charles Robert), the castle was widened and the central courtyard was built with a front door. In the mid-fifteenth century it was built on the lower courtyard whose origin is linked to the army of Jan Jiskra from Brandys stay, which was called after the death of King Sigismund (in 1437) to protect the new still a minor Hungarian King Ladislaus Pohrobok ( 1445-1457).

The Spis castle is belonged to many owners. In 1464 it was the Zapolsky family, in the early part of the sixteenth century of the Thurzo family and the last proprietor after 1636 was the Csaky family until 1945.

After a fire in 1780 that caused a lot of damage, the castle was damaged. The castle was not restored, and gradually became deserted. Since 1970 in the castle are held impressive restoration work. In the restored part of the castle is the exposition of the history of the Spis castle and dungeon with torture instruments.

Since 1993 the Spis castle with the surroundings (Spisska Kapitula, Spisske Podhradie, the church in Zehra) was entered in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage document.