Muráň Castle

Muráň Castle (Slovak: Muránsky hrad; Hungarian: Murány vára), is a ruin of a medieval castle above the village of Muráň, in the Muránska planina National Park in Slovakia. The castle is noteworthy for its unusually high elevation of 935 m, making it the third highest castle in Slovakia. It also figures in several romantic legends about its owners. Murány Castle was built in the 13th century on a cliff overlooking a regional trade route. Its name was mentioned for the first time in 1271 ("arx Mwran"), when Stephen V of Hungary ceded the castle to Gunig comes.

One of its owners, the robber baron Mátyás Basó (or Bacsó, in Slovak: Matúš Bašo), transformed the castle into a stronghold of bandits who robbed merchants and looted villages. After a siege by the royal army, the castle fell in 1548 and Basó was executed. One of the oldest Slovak songs, "The Song About The Castle of Muráň", written by Martin Bošňák describes this battle.

Another owner was Mária Széchy, better known as "The Venus of Murány". This independent woman divorced her second husband to marry the love of her life, magnate Ferenc Wesselényi, the subsequent Palatine of Hungary. When Wesselényi was besieging Murány Castle, which was occupied by her relatives at the time, she managed to get his soldiers inside through trickery. In 1666, Wesselényi organized a failed coup against Leopold I, but he died before any major confrontation. Subsequently, Mária Széchy bravely led a defense of the castle against imperial troops. Outnumbered, she eventually surrendered to Charles of Lorraine in 1670.

After the Treaty of Szatmár, the importance of the castle declined, as did its general condition. It was damaged twice in the 18th century by fire, in 1702 and in 1760.

Text adapted from “Muráň Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Muráň Castle ranks #2,403 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #23 of the 136 mapped in Slovakia. Founded 1300, it is older than 63% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,465 times in the last 60 days, more than 58% of the atlas. The nearest day-trip guide is Poprad, 37 km away. See how Slovakia compares in the castle statistics.

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