The town castle consists of buildings that gradually built around the parish church and fortified in the 15th century. Only one quarter of the original walls were preserved.Barbican - the preserved entrance part of the castle fortifications consists of the front gate and the tower gate with the remains of the lifting bridge equipment. Originally, the castle was entered via a drawbridge over an artificial moat. Later, they built a building for soldiers between the gates. There are three bells on the tower.Parish Church (Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, German Church) - is the oldest cultural-historical monument. The church is single-nave, with an extended presbytery, and on both sides of the chapel and oratory. The original architecture has preserved fragments of tracery in broken windows, covered with Baroque reconstruction. The chapel windows have preserved late Gothic flame tracery. The facade of the building is painted by blocking. The main interior of the parish church is vaulted with Prussian vaults. It has late baroque interior furnishings and murals. The side chapels, oratory and sacristy have rich patterns of late Gothic ring and star vaults. Interesting is the altar of St. Barbara, Gothic baptismal font and Gothic panel paintings.Church of St. Cross (Slovak Church) - the originally single-nave building added to the castle fortification has a late Gothic portal with intersecting rods from the end of the 15th century. It stands on the site of the former ossuary - morgue. In the interior of the church, the main artistic element is a classicist altar of column type with composite capitals, which dates from 1834. The church of St. Cross was visited by the Slovak inhabitants of Banská Bystrica, therefore it is often referred to as the Slovak Church.Matej's house - is a slender, five-storey building, topped by a high roof gable that protrudes above the fortification level. Despite the romantic arrangement, it has retained its original façade design with significant painted blocks. On the windowsill of the second floor there is a relief coat of arms of King Matej, the town coat of arms and the year 1479. The building was supposedly built by Matej Korvin for his wife Beatrice. He was at that time the king of Hungary. The function and purpose of Matej's house have probably not changed over the centuries. It served as a granary, warehouse, storage, armory, respectively guardhouse.Town Hall (praetorium) - has undergone several construction modifications, but still retained its Renaissance character. The block building with a column arcade originally followed the castle fortifications. The renaissance attics were originally in the shape of swallow tails. The building is a three-storey, rectangular type with smooth newly modified facades, which are divided on three sides by pillared arcade loggia.In addition to the aforementioned objects, the Mühlstein bastion was a part of the castle in 1501 and also a small fortress, the Ondrej bastion. Both objects no longer exists. On the contrary, the preserved buildings include a rectory building and stone fortifications with bastions. Buildings are in relatively good condition. At present, there is a Central Slovak Regional Gallery in the building of the former Town Hall and a restaurant in the Barbican building. Other buildings serve church purposes.

Banská Bystrica has in the time of Belo IV. in 1255 became a free royal city. The late Romanesque parish church and the area around it were fortified before 1442 by a system of earthen ramparts and palisades, which were replaced in the second half of the 15th century by brick stone walls, reinforced bastions and a moat. The task of this fortification was to protect the proceeds from the mining of precious metals and to protect the city. The individual buildings were enclosed by a common fortification, which protected the patrician from external enemies and internal unrest, especially during the mining uprisings.

Later, the Gothic house of King Matej (r.1479), the church of the Holy Cross (r.1492), the cube of the town hall (r.1500) and the fortification work were completed in 1512 by the construction of the entrance barbican. The fortification consisted of a high stone wall and circular bastions. In the second third of the 16th century. it underwent several building modifications, which gave it its present-day character. In 1546, it was significantly expanded and rebuilt. In 1589, the city was completely surrounded by stone walls to protect against the invasions of enemy Turks. In 1620, Gabriel Bethlen was elected King here in the Landscape Assembly. A large plague epidemic occurred in 1645, resulting in the loss of many lives.

In 1761, a devastating fire broke out in a copper smelter, which engulfed a large part of the city and caused great damage. After the fire, the buildings were renovated, and the parish church underwent a Baroque renovation in 1767. They replaced the collapsed vault with a baroque one. Typical silhouettes with onion-shaped copper roofs also date from this period. After a while, they also incorporated the town hall into the town castle. Gradual demolition of the walls, of which only the northern part has been preserved, the castle area became an open part of the city.

There are no myths available.

The area is freely accessible, entrance fee is paid only to the gallery in Praetorium. There is a restaurant in the Barbican, other buildings serve the church.Opening hours and admission

https://www.ssgbb.sk/navsteva/

https://www.hrady-zamky.sk/banska-bystrica/