Originally an anti-Turkish watchtower, it lies above the town of Krupina on a hill called Stražavár, in the valley of the river Krupinica, on the border of Krupinská planina and Štiavnické hills.
The anti-Turkish watchtower has a square floor plan and was built of quarry stone. The tower measures approximately 3x3 m and its three brick floors reach a height of approximately 13 meters. A log building on an extended walkway was built above the brick part. The tower had firing holes (still visible nowadays) in the upper part and a window on the SW side. Originally, the tower probably had a covered, spindle-shaped internal staircase, now a wooden staircase leads along the outer perimeter on the extended consoles. At the beginning of the 18th century, the tower lost its original function and gradually fell into disrepair.In the 60s of the 20th century, the tower was restored, later, in 2016 there was another reconstruction, including the replacement of the roof. At present, the tower serves as a lookout tower.
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the invasion of Turkish troops in Hungary began and it was necessary to protect especially the rich mining towns. Therefore, in May 1564, a military order was adopted in Banská Štiavnica, according to which the anti-Turkish defense of the mining towns and their surroundings had to be managed and organized. Here a new guard system was first mentioned, which would signal the movement of enemies or their unexpected incursions. So they started to build watchtowers in several places, e.g. in the Levice or Vígľaš estates, near Krupina town, on the top of Sitno hill, in Banská Štiavnica town and in many other towns and estates. It was even decided that every endangered town or castle would have a watchtower. Therefore, there was a massive expansion of the coverage of the area by a system of watchtowers.
Watchtower, called nowadays as Vartovka in Krupina, was built on Stražavár hill in the mentioned year 1564 as a part of the defense system. In addition to drawing attention to the impending Turkish invasions, it was later informing about the movement of insurgent or imperial troops. Paradoxically, the tower was occupied by the Turks shortly after its completion, but after a short time it was retaken.
At the time of its guard function, the crew was provided by a crew of 20 infantry and two announcers. To maintain the guard crew, each burgher from Krupin was obliged to pay 2 gold coins and a member of the poorest guild to pay 1 gold per year. It served as a watchtower until the beginning of the 18th century. Since then, it has gradually begun to decay. Reconstruction and renewal took place in the second half of the 20th century, and from this time it started to serve as a lookout tower. In 2005, tourist signs from the Krupina city center were completed.
The tower underwent extensive reconstruction in 2016, when the roof and all wooden parts were replaced, including the stair treads, the handrails on the railing and the cladding of the pedestrian part. Metal structures were also treated with a protective coating, the lightning conductor and the soffit of the tower itself underwent the necessary repairs.
There are no myths available.
The lookout tower is freely accessible