The original medieval castle occupied the southeast part of the summit plateau protected from three sides by rock walls obscured by the wall. Several buildings stood in the large courtyard. A large courtyard surrounded the fortifications that followed the shape of the terrain. On its northeast side were several circular bastions, on the west side were prismatic bastions. Because the castle was difficult to access, they built a mechanical elevator in a prismatic bastion, which they also used to transport works and other loads. The entrance tower is gothic, in its interior is a stone seat (seat). The main residential function was a palace with a chapel. The second residential building is located by the southern wall and there is a second chapel. The remnants of the farm building, the scalp and other objects are also recognizable. On one of the walls you can see a renaissance corner letter and sgraffito ornamentation.Landscaping and attempts to preserve the castle ruins contributed to the legibility of the individual buildings located along the large courtyard. In 2005, a relatively extensive reconstruction of the castle took place, in which two lookout platforms were built. The castle gate was also reconstructed.

The oldest written information about the castle Mwran (Muráň) dates back to 1271, when Štefan V. donated it to the landscape judge - comes Mikuláš Gunic as a part of the Jelšava estate. The castle has been owned by the Rátol family since 1321. Around 1429, the lords of the Jelšava family and the descendants of Roland died out and the castle passed into the royal hands. Around 1440, Muráň was occupied by mercenaries Ján Jiskra, who stayed here for almost two decades and built several fortifications. In 1461, during the liquidation of the fraternal movement, King Matej Korvín sent an army against Jiskra, led by Sebastian Rozgonyi. Spark with the help of Emperor Frederick III. - in 1461 he once again rebelled against King Matthew, but in 1462 he surrendered and the castle became a royal property.

The king donated the Muráň Castle to Štefan Zápoľský. He released it to his faithful follower Juraj Tornali, after his death his four-year-old son Ján inherited the property and Matej Bašo became the administrator. Matej Bašo became sadly famous as a robber knight. As soon as he got to the stewardship, he tried to secure the castle for himself, so he sent young Ján to Poland, from where he never returned. He occupied the castle and declared himself its master.

In order to bear the great costs associated with maintaining the army, he undertook robberies in a wide area, looted and killed. He stole the church in Rimavská Sobota, looted the monastery in Hrabušice. The plundering of the Lapis Refugii monastery is attributed to him. He minted counterfeit coins in the castle. In 1548, King Ferdinand issued an order to capture and imprison him. He entrusted this task to the landscape assembly of Mr. Krásná Hôrka - František Bebek. The royal criminal expedition led by Count Nicholas of Salm occupied the castle in 1549 with the help of the castle garrison, but Baš managed to escape. In Telgárt, however, he was captured by shepherds, getting to know the famous robber knight - the lord of the Muráň castle and the fear of the surrounding area. He was brought back to the castle, where he was sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out immediately.

With the uprooting of the Bašov family, Muráň and its surroundings came to safety. The royal army remained at the castle, Melchior Maschko became the appointed captain in the years 1565 - 1585 and in the years 1585 - 1594 Július Herberstein, then Ján Rotthal. According to the capital records, in 1610 the Rotthal family ruled in Muráň.

Count Tomáš Széchy, the main governor of the Gemer chair, was the castle in 1612, along with all the adjacent land. After Tomáš, his son Juraj ruled at the castle, and he and his wife Mária Drugeth de Homonnay had nine children: Ján, Petra, Samuel, Juraj, Mária, Barbara, Katarína, Eva and Magdaléna. None of the sons reached adulthood, nor did Magdalena's daughter. Of the children, the eldest daughter, Maria, known as the Venus of Muráň, became most famous. Its name is most closely associated with the history of the castle. At a very young age, she married Štefan Bethlen, the castle captain, in Jelšava. They lived together for a short time, their two children, and he himself died. Mária Széchy was only 22 years old when she remarried.

Štefan Kún could not match her appearance or intelligence. Maria was beautiful, with a penchant for poetry, but also an excellent rider with a passion for housework. She said she knew Slovak. Shortly after Kun, she went to the castle of Déva, where her own husband besieged her with the army. She resisted him and let him disperse with him, which was an extraordinary event at the time.

Mária Széchy lived in the castle with her younger sister Eva and her husband Illésházy, supporters of the estate uprising of Juraj Rákóczi. Mary was a supporter of the king. When she met Captain František Wesselényi from Fiľak, they both prepared a plan to acquire the castle. They managed to do this with a cunning. There was already a relationship between Maria and Wesselényi during his marriage to Štefan Bethlen. Wesselényi lived in a marriage with the rich Žofia Bosnyáková - the youngest daughter of Tomáš Bosnyák, the lord of Fiľak Castle. Mary's father defended the relationship between his daughter and Wesselényi, who was determined to abandon his faith and divorce Zofia. The adventurous beginning of a new era began with a rope that Mary threw out of the castle window. Wesselényi and the selected companions had a hard time finding the rope and began to climb to the lighted candle in the castle window. They happily got into the room, where they were caught and locked in the room.

Thus, the Murano castle fell out of the hands of Rákóczi. When Wesselényi acquired the castle, he got married to Maria in 1644 and thus became the lord of Muráň. King Ferdinand supported him and in 1655 appointed him palatine of the country. This period was the peak of the glory of the Muráň Castle, the golden period of the Muráň estate began. Shortly afterwards, Wesselényi was promoted to the rank of count, at that time he was the second most important person after the king, and Venus of Murano was the first woman in Hungary after the queen.

The castle was rebuilt with unprecedented pomp and splendor. At that time, all Baroque buildings were erected here and the Renaissance Széchy Palace was extensively rebuilt.

Ferdinand's successor, King Leopold I, because he did not observe the Golden Bull issued by King Andrew II, rebelled against the nobility of the whole country. Wesselényi himself organized a conspiracy against the king, but this was revealed. Wesselényi moved to Slovenská Ľupča, and died in 1667. Leopold I issued an order to occupy Muráň Castle in 1670, and the king's troops occupied it in August 1670. The castle commander was Juraj Móric Kotulinský, who treated Mary cruelly and recklessly, later imprisoned her and her property was looted. In the years 1671 - 1676 she was interned in Vienna, freed from prison, Maria went to Kőszeg to her brother-in-law Ladislav Csáky, where she lived the last three years of her life and died on July 18, 1679. The star of Muráň Castle went out with her death.

In 1678 and 1683, the castle was conquered by Imrich Thököly. In 1677 he allied with Abalfy and defeated the imperial army several times: After the defeat of the Turks at Vienna in 1684 with the help of King Sobieske of Poland, the castle fell into the hands of the emperor again. After 1688, the power of the Thököly family ended with the appointment of Krištof Breiner and Pavol Medňanský to the royal commissioners in Muráň.

A cruel fate struck the castle when, in 1702, a fire completely destroyed all the dwellings. However, the documents show that it was repaired again in 1706. In 1710, the Kuruk rule over the castle ended. It was later occupied by František Rákóczi II, who donated it to his loyal general Mikuláš Berčéni.

Emperor Charles VI in 1720 he donated the castle to Štefan Koháry with eternal rights for services, as the last of this family had no son and so his only daughter Mária-Antónia married Ferdinand Juraj - Prince of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha in 1816. The whole property belonged to the prince Coburg-Koháry.

The last inhabitant of the castle was an 84-year-old retired soldier. He lived in the house in 1820. The house was preserved in the 60s of the 20th century. In 1928, the state land office of the Czechoslovak Republic took over the property for consideration.

Gypsy woman

According to legend, the castle captain fell in love with the gypsy and married her. But she couldn't get used to her previous life, and whenever the man wasn't home, she called her family to the castle. She dressed in gypsy clothes, lit a fire, baked the gypsy, and had fun. After a while, the captain found out. He told his wife that he would not return to the castle until late at night, but did not leave the castle. He caught the woman in the act and threw his wife into the abyss. Since then, the castle rock is called Cigánka (Gypsy woman).

Muráň Venus

Mária Széchy, also nicknamed the Venus of Muráň for her beauty, was also an extraordinarily brave woman. The castle under her command resisted all attacks by imperial troops. Their leader, František Wesselényi, did not speak to Maria at the surrender or in a personal meeting. Enchanted by her appearance, however, he attacked the impregnable fortress with Cupid's arrows. He offered his heart to Mary. After the answer, he was to lose the castle at midnight with a lowered rope ladder. Here he fell into captivity and was faced with the choice of death or eternal union with an admired woman, but on condition of betrayal of the emperor. By choosing this option, he passed the test, winning the hand of Venus of Muráň and with it the castle, which was occupied that night by his army.

The castle is open to the public, but if you want to get to the Veľká lúka by car, it is necessary to obtain a permit in the information center.Infocentre

http://npmuranskaplanina.sopsr.sk/navstevnici/informacne-stredisko-muran/

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