The most interesting part of the castle is the middle castle. It is dominated by the preserved masonry of Renaissance palaces of Báthory and Garay. In addition, the foundations of a Roman building, uncovered during archaeological excavations in the 1930s, as well as the remnants of residential and commercial premises, are uncovered here. The large area of the central castle is dominated by a 60-meter-deep castle well in its north-western part. Its upper part is built of sandstone blocks, the center is carved into the rock, the lower part is reinforced similarly as the upper. In the basement of the Renaissance palace is an exhibition hall used for seasonal exhibitions on the history of the castle. On the wall of the palace there is a commemorative plaque from 1936 commemorating the centenary of a historical trip of Slovak youth to Devín, organized in 1836 by Ľudovít Štúr.Above the confluence of the Danube with the Morava River, we will not miss the view of a small tower called Mníška (also known as the Virgin Tower), which stands alone on a steep rocky tip. To the right of it on the southern slope of the castle a spiky gothic portal indicates the entrance to the tunnel cave. It reaches a length of 11.5 meters and a height of almost nine meters. It goes through the whole castle hill. The oldest part - the upper castle - consists of the remains of hexagonal, probably a two-storey stone tower and two fortified areas placed one above the other. Access to the upper castle leads through a short bridge over the defensive ditch. After the archaeological research and reconstruction, the Upper Castle has been open to the public since 2017. The buildings or foundations of the castle buildings are preserved and the whole castle is relatively easy to read in the field.

Devín Hill has been inhabited since ancient times. In the 2nd to 4th century, the Romans included it in the Limes Romanus fortification system, which protected the borders of the Roman Empire from barbarians. The defensive wall they left was later used by the Slavs.

In the middle of the 13th century, a stone castle was built on a rock above the confluence of the Danube and Moravia, first mentioned in written sources in 1271. The stone castle probably replaced the fortifications, which were conquered and destroyed in 1233 by the Austrian duke Friedrich Babenberg, called the warrior. In 1301, the castle was again seized by the Austrian duke, this time Rudolf, and for some time the royal castellans took turns here. Even under Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1411, the castle was in reserve by the Austrian knight Hering Lessel and in 1414 it was bought by the palatine Nicholas II. Garai. Thanks to the Garai family, they fortified the castle and expanded it with a middle castle.

After the death of Mikuláš's son Ladislav, King Matej Korvín donated Devín to the counts of Svätý Jur and Pezinok, who continued the fortifications of the lower castle. However, around 1500, the reconstruction was probably suspended for financial reasons. In this form, the castle withstood the attack of a smaller section of Turks in 1529. The castle already belonged to Štefan Báthory at this time, from 1527. When the Báthory family became extinct, Ján Keglevich temporarily seized the castle, which forced the attack of his subjects. The Devinians conquered the castle in 1616 with the help of the left-wing landowner Siegfried Kolonich. Four years later, Devín could not resist Gabriel Bethlen's rebel army.

In 1635, the castle was inherited by Pavol Pálffy, but in this period the castle mostly served only as an administrative and economic center. During Thököly's and during Rákóczi's uprising, he still successfully resisted repeated attacks.

The fame of the feudal castle declined and the Great Moravian tradition of Devín, which became one of the symbols of the national revival, came to the fore. In 1836, Ľudovít Štúr and his followers took a memorable walk to the castle, which is now commemorated by a memorial plaque on the castle.

The destruction of the castle core was brought about by the preparation of the magnificent celebrations of the St. Stephen's Millennium, when at the end of the 19th century it was partially collapsed and concreted as a pedestal for the monument to Prince Arpad. Since the end of the 1960s, systematic research has been carried out at the castle.

The legend of the Maiden's Tower

It is rumored that Knight Nicholas, lord of Devín Castle, went to the quarries as far as Carinthia. The Virgin Magdalene from a wealthy family caught his eye. However, the girl's father refused Mikuláš's request, the knight kidnapped Magdalena. The Virgin Margaret did not defend herself too much, because she liked the young knight and after arriving in Devín, she also liked his beautiful castle. Before the wedding, however, Margaret's uncle Rafael, the abbot of Isenburg, visited Devín Castle. His gunmen seized the girls and headed back to Carinthia. However, Knight Mikuláš caught up with them and got Margaret back after the fight. After returning to the castle, preparations for the wedding began. As soon as they said yes in the chapel, guns rattled again in the courtyard of the castle. Abbot Rafael tricked the guard with a lie and broke into the castle. This time, the Carinthians were in the lead and forced the knight Nicholas to retreat to a slender tower on a rocky promontory overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Moravia. When, due to the onslaught of troops, the door to the tower was released, Knight Nicholas fell in an unequal battle. His young bride jumped into the Danube from grief. The mighty waters of the Virgin Margaret River were buried on her wedding day, and the tower on the rocky promontory has since been called the Virgin Tower.

The legend of the castle well

Water has been missing from Devín Castle for a long time. And so the lord of the castle chose the most powerful of his subjects and promised them that if they dug a well on Devín, they would get freedom. They actually dug a well and found a lump of gold from which they made a brooch. The castle lord was given water and his wife the jewel. At that time, the devil in the form of a ugly clown whispered to the castle lord that even more gold was possible. Instead of freedom, the diggers earned a dungeon and eventually threw them from the cliff into the Danube. Before his death, the poor cursed the castle lord and his clown, who then accidentally collapsed from the same place into the Danube exactly one year and one day later.

Since 2017 the upper castle has been open to the public.Opening hours and admission

https://www.muzeum.sk/hrad-devin.html

https://www.hrady-zamky.sk/devin/