The castle core, enclosed by walls on an approximately triangular plan, occupies in the north the remains of a Gothic palace with a square tank on the ground floor. Between the palace and the remains of the SE building is the entrance to the courtyard with two other circular cisterns. During the Renaissance reconstruction of the castle, a cylindrical cannon tower, a horseshoe bastion were added to the triangle tops, and the third peak was reinforced with a circular entrance bastion, which covered the original castle gate. Between the tower and the bastions stretch defensive casemate corridors. The living space of the castle is extended by an extension to the outside of the eastern wall and the construction of a forward bastion with a polygonally terminated cannon platform reinforced the defense.Remains of window and portal openings, cannon firing and demanding framing of stone walls have been preserved.

The castle was probably built before 1291 by Peter from the Illéšov branch of the Kačič family (Kacsics family). In 1310, Peter's sons handed over the castle to Matúš Čák, who lost the castle after the battle of Rozhanovce in 1312 and a little later. In 1455, the last owner of this family, Ladislav, gave the manor and castle in advance to Albert Lossonczy and the land dignitary Michal Országh. In the middle of the 16th century, only the Štefan, the main captain of the Lower Mountain troops, represented the Lossonczy family. The fate of Štefan Lossonczy in the battle of Temesvár in 1552 was fatal for the castle, when the Turks occupied Šomoška and other surrounding castles. Although the castle was thoroughly fortified, Štefan's son-in-law Krištof Ungnad in 1576 could not defend it from a new onslaught of Turkish troops. As early as 1593, however, the castle was recaptured by the imperial dukes Mikuláš Pálfi and Krištof of Tiefenbach. The castle then belonged to Sigismund Forgach.

During the anti-Habsburg uprisings in 1605, the castle was occupied by the insurgents Štefan Bocskaya, in 1619 by the insurgents Gabriel Bethlen and in 1703 by the Kurucs of Francis II. Rákóczi. A year later, Simon, the grandson of Sigismund Forgách, joined the insurgents, for which Emperor Joseph I confiscated all his family property in 1709. In connection with the suppression of the Rákóczi uprising, the imperial army conquered the castle and, in order to prevent its unwanted re-use, blew it up. The castle gradually fell into disrepair, and the fire in 1826, allegedly caused by lightning, caused further damage and at this time the remaining preserved areas of the castle were demolished. Since then, the castle is in ruins.

At the end of the 20th century, a monumental ruin was built, during which one of the bastions was also roofed.

The legend of the castle

Below the castle, in the old quarry, is an unveiling of the columnar separation of basalts, known as the Stone Waterfall. The fan of hexagonal prisms will not only attract today's visitors, but, as the walls of the castle prove, it also pleased its builders, who found the prepared building material here.

Castle for love

The Šomoška captain was worried about the head. His loved one's parents prevented them from getting married, arranged her wedding with another, and kept him in duty at the castle - a number of Turks who besieged the castle. When a saving thought occurred to him. At night he will kidnap the sweetheart, secretly marry and be back on the walls by morning. So he did. However, when the soldiers of the castle garrison noticed that the commander had escaped from the castle, they also took their feet on their shoulders. However, the captain did not find a sweetheart, because the Turks found out about her and kidnapped her. He also lost his love for the castle, which the enemy occupied without resistance.

Puppets in the castle

The castle lord of Šomoška was a big braggart. He did nothing of the Turks, who already occupied the neighboring castles, but on the contrary, he exhibited how he would pass through their minds. When the king once asked him for help, he sent almost the entire garrison to Zvolen and set up straw mannequins on the walls instead of his soldiers. After all, the Turk is a pagan and the pagan is stupid, he liked to talk. He even entrusted the defense of the castle to only one of his soldiers and went under the castle himself to attack the attackers with the remaining soldiers. Of course, he succumbed to Turkish superiority, and the commander of the straw army was left to the castle as a madman in the castle.

Opening hours and admission

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