Palanok Castle

P3

View of the Castle Palanok

The castle Palanok (older Plankentoner castle, also Munkatscher Castle; Ukrainian Замок Паланок / Samok Palanok, Hungarian Munkács Vára ) is located in western Ukraine in the Transcarpathian Oblast west of downtown Mukachevo in Palanok district.

Location

The very well preserved castle is divided into three parts, the upper, middle and lower fortress and is situated on a 68 meter high massif of volcanic origin.

Plant

The total area of the castle of about 14,000 square meters, it is made about 130 areas which are connected to each other by a complex system of passageways.

Today, the castle houses a museum that deals with the history of the castle and the town of Mukachevo.

History

The foundation stone for the building was laid in the 14th century, the castle served for a long time the defense.

The Castle of Munkács (now Castle Palanok ) was, like most castles in the area, the Hungarian king Béla IV built in the 13th century after the Mongol invasion, to protect the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary to the north and east. In 1445 the city was declared a free royal city.

The most famous owner of the castle was the Rákóczi family. In the years 1685-1688 the castle was defended for three years by Jelena Zrinski against a besieging army of the Habsburgs. After the end of Ferenc Rákóczi II cited by the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs (1711 Peace of Satu Mare ), the Rákóczi lost the castle.

Emperor Charles VI. Mukachevo and Tschynadijowo 1726 gave to the Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn. A year later it fell to his nephew Friedrich Karl von Schönborn- Buchheim. The possession was one of the largest in Eastern Europe and consisted in 1731 of 4 towns and 200 villages with a total area of ​​2,400 square kilometers. He remained until the 20th century in the possession of the Counts of Schönborn.

Since the end of the 18th century until 1897, the castle was used as a barracks and prison. Later it was rebuilt by French military architect, an imposing fortress and after the storming of the Bastille prison used as a pan-European ( 1796-1897 ). During the Napoleonic Wars, even the Holy Crown ( Hungarian crown ) was kept 1805-1806 here. By 1926 the premises were used as barracks, later existed here an agricultural school. The Greek freedom fighter Alexander Ypsilanti was from 1821 - 1823 trapped in the dungeon of the castle.

Impressions

In the second court (6 )

Treadmill at the well ( 13)

Door system of the main castle (14 )