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.

Tekst overgenomen uit “Muráň Castle” op de Engelstalige Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Muráň Castle staat op plaats 2.674 van 5.793 in de bekendheidsranglijst van deze atlas en op plaats 27 van de 126 die de atlas in Slowakije in kaart brengt. Gebouwd in 1300, en daarmee ouder dan 66% van de gedateerde bouwwerken in de atlas — een van de 519 bouwwerken in de atlas die uit de 13e eeuw stammen. Zie hoe dat zich verhoudt in de kastelenstatistiek.

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