The castle used to consist of a two-story palace, a tower and stone walls. The outer fortifications were earthy. Today we can still see the remains of ramparts along almost the entire perimeter of the castle hill.The description of the castle from 1668 shows the castle palace as a stone building, protected by two gates, a bastion and a strong fortification.

We know little about history about this castle. The guard castle was built probably in the second half of the 13th century after the Tartar invasion. However, the first written mention is from the years 1305-1306, when the castle is mentioned as Castrum de Dobronya. In 1306, the castle was owned by Matúš Čák Trenčiansky, who married the castle from Demeter Zólyomi and Donč. After his death, the castle fell into the hands of the monarch. From 1424, the castle was the property of Hungarian queens. In 1427-1437 it belonged to Queen Borbal and from 1439 to Queen Elizabeth. In the middle of the 15th century, it was one of the pillars of the troops of Ján Jiskra and the brothers, when the castle was promised to them by the castle in 1447. Hunyadi. In 1455, Andrej Baumkirchner received the castle, which was partially damaged, on the condition that he must put the castle in order. The restored castle was acquired from Baumkirchner by King Matej Korvín in 1463, who later in 1464 donated the castle to Benedik Thurócz.

After 1476, the castle was acquired by Queen Beatrix, from whom the castle was deposited by Bernát Frangepán in 1490. In 1515, Štefan Perényi married Isotta Frangepánová, thus becoming the owner of the castle. In 1518, however, he exchanged the castle with Štefan Verbőczy for another manor. In 1527, František Révay received the castle as a gift, but he could not control it, as it was occupied by Bálint Török. Soon after, Dobra Niva was occupied by royal troops. In 1531 it was taken over by the mayor of Thurn for Queen Mary, who surrendered the castle in the name of the king in 1548.

The importance of the castle increased during the Turkish invasions at the end of the 16th century. The castle experienced the most serious danger during the attack of the Sečian and Fiľak begos in 1583. The castle was successfully defended mainly thanks to the timely help of the Zvolen captain Juraj Barbarič. At that time, the castle was in such a bad condition that the Dobroniv estate had to move to a new building, which was built in the castle grounds in 1609. Only the military garrison remained at the castle. The castle had several owners, but the longest, from 1614 to 1804, was owned by the Eszterházy family. In 1805, the royal office bought the castle for the needs of the mining chamber and since then the castle began to be abandoned. The already ruined castle was also helped by the villagers, who used some parts of the castle as a building material for their homes. In 1996, the ruin (preserved wall of the castle) underwent reconstruction and conservation.

There are no myths available.

The ruin is freely accessible

https://www.hrady-zamky.sk/dobra-niva/