Spiš Castle
The Spis castle ( slovak: Spiš, pronunciation / i; Hungarian: Szepesi vár or Szepesvár ) is located east of Spišské Podhradie in the community Žehra in the Zips in the north-eastern Slovakia. It is the largest castle complex in Central Europe allegedly. Its outer walls comprise exactly 41 426 m². According to the Guinness Book of World Records, however, the Prague Hradcany with 800 by 180 meters, is even greater.
The ruins ( formerly called " Zipser house ", " Zipser Castle " ) perched on a 634 m high rocky Travertinkegel peaking from a lying between the surrounding mountains level. The nearest major town is Ves (German Zipser Neudorf ).
History
At least inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the Castle Hill was a center of the Celts, but was abandoned by the end of the 2nd century in favor of a neighboring hill chain.
In the 12th century the castle was built at its present location at which advance a fortified Slovak settlement had found. After the castle had withstood the Mongol invasion, it was expanded considerably in the mid- 14th century. In the 15th century it was the warrior Giskra Johann (Jan Jiskra ) acquired by fraud, and that the castle has expanded to its present size.
Since the 12th century the castle was the administrative seat of the Zips. In 1460 the castle was, however (again) the property of the King of the Kingdom of Hungary, who gave the Zápolyas four years later. Then got the Thurzos, a Slovak nobility and business family, the castle and these have ( since the 12th century remodeled several times ) castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style. After 1636 took possession of the Csákys the castle, and at the beginning of the 17th century there was a generous connection between the previously independent buildings. Since the plant for the modern military technology had become uncomfortable and unusable as a residence, the Csákys left the castle. After 1710 it burned down, and after another destructive fire in 1780 it was abandoned by the last military garrison.
1945, the plant was expropriated by the Czechoslovak state and later partly reconstructed. In 1961 the castle was declared a national cultural monument.
Since 1993, the Spis Castle is one together with Spišské Podhradie ( German Kirch top ) and the Holy Spirit Church in Žehra ( German Schigra ) UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since the late 1990s, working with a lot of commitment to the further renovation.