Originally a lowland water castle in the village of Štítnik, district of Rožňava, situated in the Štítnické podolie of Revúcka Highlands, partly preserved in the ruins and partly in a rebuilt building - mansion
From the original water castle is preserved only the western ground wing, southeast bastion with terrace, part of the entrance on the eastern side with a bastion. At the beginning of the 19th century, a new stone wall with a large gate was built on the site of the southern wing. On the site of the northern wing is a farm building.From the building remained the ruins of the south-eastern bastion, romantically decorated with neo-Gothic windows and a terrace, the original entrance from the eastern side and the side bastion, as well as the remains of the foundations, were severely destroyed. The castle grounds with a mansion rebuilt into a kitchen and a dining room were used by the agricultural school until 2010. In 2016, after mutual settlement and agreement with the Košice self-governing region, the castle grounds and the park are owned by the village of Štítnik. The castle area has been cleaned and a reconstruction of the castle is preparing. Reconstruction should also touch upon legends of gutted tunnels and catacombs, the existence of which has been tradition for generations. They served as escape routes, which were used mainly during the raids of the Turks.
- 1 - masonry from the 15th century
- 2 - from the second half. 16th century
- 3 - baroque
- 4 - from the 19th century
Although there are plenty of suitable altitudes in the vicinity of Štítnik, the castle was built in a position whose surroundings could be turned into ditches flooded by water from a nearby river of the same name. Although the castle in Štítnik is mentioned as early as the 13th century, the building permit, resp. reconstruction, the king Bebek family received from King Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1432. In the past, this castle was protected by large swamps and was an important anti-Turkish fortress. It was of regular shape with two round corner towers on the west side. He was included in the anti-Turkish defensive line in 1559. In 1577, the military council asked the Gemer committee to rebuild the castle because it was obsolete.
The reconstruction probably began in 1580 - 1585, while they strengthened the outer fortifications with large round artillery bastions and increased the observation prismatic tower with a wooden superstructure. One of the new corner towers was polygonal and resembled the famous Bebek Tower in Fiľakovo. Nevertheless, the Turks conquered the castle several times and then regained it by the imperial troops.
After the extinction of the Štební branch of the Bebek family (1594), Blažej Horváth had property in his possession for some time, and then until 1566 the Bakos family [Bakoš]. Other owners (Balogovci, Pongráczovci, Rákócziovci, etc.) also had a share in the ownership, until the castle was destroyed by anti-Habsburg uprisings. After the last of them, only the ruins remained on the site of the once mighty fortress. In the 19th century, however, one of its wings was reconstructed and rebuilt into a manor house by the Sárkányi mining family. Some of the fortress elements of the original castle have been preserved near this manor house.
In 1940, one bastion burned down and after II. sv. During the war, a soda factory was set up in the farm building. In 1975, the Olomouc architect Z. Gardavský carried out a survey of the building. The castle complex with the manor house rebuilt into a kitchen and dining room was used by the agricultural school until 2010.
In 2016, after mutual settlement and agreement with the Košice self-governing region, the castle complex with a park became the property of the village of Štítnik, and for the first time in history, castle games took place in August 2016 and the castle complex was opened to the public.
There are no myths available.
Opening hours and admission