An interesting castle complex that connects the ruins of a Gothic castle with a reconstructed Renaissance mansion.The original construction of the castle fortifications includes an arched passage into the courtyard of the mansion. In front of the gate was once a moat, today it is built by buildings. The gradual growth of the ground plan is optically unified by Baroque Prussian vaults. In the interior of the castle there is a cartwheel and slotted loopholes. The interior of the mansion serves as a hotel and restaurant.The wholly preserved core of the castle occupied a narrow rocky outcrop, on which they built a two-storey palace. The survey shows that round-faced towers have divided slotted ventilation and lighting openings and, together with the palace, have been completed with a gallery and crenellation. Buildings outside the core were preserved from the period of rebuilding in the 15th century, when from the north attached to the core a small bailey. Its western part was filled with a two-tract passage palace and the neighboring small courtyard with a well was bounded by a wall with a corner horseshoe tower. Several remnants of the original painted window mount were identified in the palace.

At the beginning of the 14th century, at the confluence of the Belá and Váh rivers, below the foothills of the Low Tatras, the Zvolen county of Donč had a Gothic stone castle built on a low limestone rock. The castle was surrounded by a moat, which has been preserved in the form of a lake to this day. The year 1341 is the first written mention of a castle called Wywar, in later documents it is mentioned as Novum Castrum - Nový Hrad or Hradek. One of his strategic tasks was to control an important trade route called Via Magna. This historical journey of emperors, kings and Transylvanian princes led from Central to Southeastern Europe. In 1399, King Sigismund handed over the castle to M. Gorjanský. In 1433 it was conquered by the Hussites, later occupied by the Jiskrovci. Throughout its history, the castle has often changed owners.

An important figure at the castle was Bálint Balassa. Balassa came from the leading aristocratic Hungarian Balassa family. In the 13th century, his ancestors owned several villages and manors on the territory of today's Slovakia, and the builder of the castle, Master Donč, also came from this family. In the years 1554 - 1600 they also owned the castle in Liptovský Hrádok. In 1600, the castle and the manor were owned by Mikuláš Sándorfi. He married the young castle lady Magdalena Zai, the widow of the previous owner of the Balašov family - Žigmund, whom she married shortly before his death. At the initiative of Sándorfi and his wife, a Renaissance manor house and other buildings were built around the castle between 1601 and 1603, ensuring the operation of the manor. Material from the demolished walls was used to build the manor. On the first floor of the manor they set up representative rooms for the owners and their guests, and on the ground floor there were warehouses and accommodation for servants. Mikuláš Sándorfi did not live to see the completion of the reconstruction, he died in 1603.

After the death of her second husband, Magdalena Zai legally secured her position as the owner of the castle through marriages with other applicants for property. Her fourth husband, Imrich Mérey, would rather marry a widow than pay her a deposit for the castle. Together, Magdalena Zai married five times, buried each husband after no more than 4 years of marriage, and all were said to have died a natural death.

In the turbulent times of the beginning of the 17th century, Hrádok was probably a safe place, as the St. Stephen's crown was stored here for a short time in March 1622. The castle withstood all waves of anti-Habsburg uprisings and played the most important strategic role during the estate uprisings in the 17th century. The commanding imperial general built a strong defense against the rebels of František Rákóczi. Later, at the beginning of the 18th century, Emperor Leopold I donated the castle and manor to Prince Lichtenstein. In 1709 there was a significant battle on Švihrová between the insurgents and the imperial troops, which resisted the onslaught, but the castle was severely damaged by the insurgents in these battles. In 1731, the castle and the manor were bought from Emanuel Lichtenstein by the royal chamber. Since then, the castle and the manor have been in decline.

After the devastating fire of the castle and manor house in 1803, only the manor house was restored and the castle has been in ruins ever since. But it was not just this disaster. In the rainy summer of 1813, a catastrophic flood occurred. In the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the District Court as well as the Hungarian Royal Forest Office were located in the manor. In 1932, the risky parts of the old castle were preserved. From 1960 until the gentle revolution, the Ethnographic Museum of Liptov was housed here. The premises have been abandoned since 1989, unheated, exposed to unwanted visitors and everything that could be taken away was stolen. Only bare walls without windows and doors remained.

In 2001, when Ing. Dagmar Machová visited the ruins of the castle and the ruins of the manor house, a vision of renewal and revival of this manor was born in her mind, which was built by Magdalena Zai. She lived here for the longest of all owners - 23 years. This was followed by obtaining a building permit and thorough remediation against moisture, removal of broken statics, introduction of electricity, provision of connection to the public sewer behind the bridge overpass and heating of the South Wing. Thorough conservation of the walls of the castle ruins was carried out from the point of view of safety, so that the falling rocks did not endanger the construction work. Subsequent reconstruction, roof renovation, park planting, courtyard paving, restoration of wells, purchase of antiques and equipment. In the years 2005 - 2010 even the construction of Wellness with swimming pool and Stone Gallery halls, renovation of rooms, reconstruction of Sandorfy's apartment.

The rumour says

When the lord Mikuláš Sandorfi died in 1603, another candidate for the castle preferred to marry a widow rather than pay her an advance. Mrs. Magdalene gradually buried three men and lived with the fourth in the castle until 1623.

Opening hours and admission

http://www.grandcastle.sk/sk/hrad-a-kastiel/prehliadka-hradu

https://www.hrady-zamky.sk/liptovsky-hradok/