Kanázs Castle

Kanázs Castle is a castle ruin in the Mátra, south of Mátraderecske.

The castle, of which today only the watchtower stands, may have been a "satchel castle" in the 14th century, that is, its garrison relieved one another with a satchel's worth of food (enough for a few days). Its carved stones on the eastern side still defy time.

Nearby Recsk is mentioned in the papal tithe register of 1332–37 under the name "De Reske", and from 1350 it belonged to the Recsky family. In 1427 it was the property of Tamás Recsky and his sons Zsigmond and Tamás, then in 1513 of Demeter Recsky, and in 1571 of the latter's sons Zsigmond and György. Presumably the latter were the builders of the Kanázs Castle known today. According to some assumptions, however, it was raised by Kristóf Guthy Országh in 1562, when he also enlarged the castle of Sirok; it may have been that castle's advanced bastion.

The castle had no particular military significance; it probably fell into Turkish hands after the fall of Eger, when it was destroyed.

It can be reached by bus as far as Mátraderecske, and from there on foot along the yellow ruin trail. In rainy, slippery weather the climb is difficult. In August 2020 it was not possible to go up to the castle, as a double fence closed off the yellow trail from the northern side.

Machine-translated from “Kanázsvár” on the Hungarian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Kanázs Castle ranks #7,971 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #132 of the 135 mapped in Hungary. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Miskolc, 55 km away. See how Hungary compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Hungarian) ↗