Unlike the castles, which were characterized by corner towers, at Vígľaš there is only a three-wing tower applied with dimensions of 60x85m, while the southern side was defined only by a simple wall. The living and representative rooms were mainly concentrated on the floors of the northern and eastern wings. A chapel was placed at the southern end of the wing. The interior was vaulted and accessible through the portal from the arcade corridor. The second portal led from an adjacent hall arched to a central column. The living rooms had beamed ceilings and were illuminated by rectangular windows with central crosses.The ruins of the castle in a desolate state were purchased from the village by private investors in 2007, when the project of restoration of the castle began under the supervision of experts from the conservation authorities. In 2009, the reconstruction of the castle fortifications, adjacent bastions and the castle building began. The extensive reconstruction was completed in 2013 and in 2014 the castle became the official seat of the Order of the Swords of the Circle. The castle building is registered in the list of National Cultural Monuments and is unique within Slovakia. It is reconstructed as a congress hotel The Grand Vígľaš **** with wellness services.

The predecessor of the Vígľaš chateau was probably a Slavic fortified settlement, and later a monastery building was built here, probably administered by the Templar order. We learn about the new construction of the royal hunting lodge from a document of King Sigismund, which the monarch dated on July 9, 1390 in castro Wegles. In 1424, King Sigismund donated extensive estates, including Vígľaš, to his second wife Barbora. He remained in the possession of the Hungarian queens even after Sigismund's death. However, Barbara's daughter Elizabeth had different worries than her mother. In 1439 she became a widow and focused her efforts on saving the Hungarian throne for her son Ladislav. In the summer of 1440, the Vígľaš chateau was included in the queen's calculations. She first traded it with Reinprecht of Ebensdorf for a riot in the Hungarian Ostroh. After another exchange, she entrusted the chateau to Captain Jodok Just of Kusava, a supporter of Ján Jiskra, who was entrusted with the military protection of the interests of Ladislav Pohrobek.

In 1442, Queen Elizabeth died, two years in the battle with the Ottomans, her opponent Vladislav Jagelovský fell, and then her 17-year-old son died. Mr. Just welcomed the new monarch and the castle came to life during the reign of Matej Korvín by feasting and hunting.

In the second half of the 16th century, the castle played an important role in the anti-Turkish battles. At that time, they added a new fortification with four corner towers and maintained a permanent military garrison. The gate tower was built at the last minute by the captain of the castle garrison Ladislav Zai. In 1577, the Vígľaš defenders only with difficulty repulsed the attack of a large army, fortunately led without artillery. Then the fortifications of the castle were repaired and completed by expanding the western fortification and building two cannon bastions. Even after numerous attacks, the Ottomans did not conquer the castle, but during the uprisings, the castle was occupied by Bocskay, Bethlen, Thököly and Rákóczi's insurgents. It was around r. 1605. In 1636, the Vígľaš dominion came into the permanent possession of magnate families. Initially to the Csáky family, then from 1690 to the Eszterházy family. In the middle of the 18th century, they restored the fortifications to the reputation of a representative chateau through a Baroque reconstruction.

In 1870, the Vígľaš Castle was bought in this form by the landowner Mikuláš Kiš [Kiss] and 11 years later it had it repaired. From 1905, the castle was owned by Archduke Friedrich of Habsburg, but in 1918 the property passed into the ownership of the new Czechoslovak state. They then set up a forest administration in the chateau. In February 1945, German troops used the space of Vígľaš to defend. The fighting had catastrophic consequences for the castle. After crossing the front, no one cared about the destroyed castle, and in addition, people disassembled and took away everything they could. Over time, the ceilings collapsed and only remained the perimeter walls, partitions and firmly built-in architectural details of the Vígľaš Castle.

The ruins of the chateau were bought from the village by a private investor in 2007, when a project to restore the chateau began under the supervision of experts from the monument offices. In 2009, the restoration of the castle fortifications, adjacent bastions and the castle building began. The extensive reconstruction was completed in 2013 and in 2014 the castle became the official seat of the Order of the Swords of the Circle. In September 2014, the chateau was ceremoniously opened as the congress hotel The Grand Vígľaš with the provision of wellness services.

Vígľaš catchpolls

The lord of Vígľaš had seven villagers closed. For some reason, they were supposed to hit the gate with sticks. The news of the guilt angered their friends. At night they secretly went to Vígľaš and in the morning there was no one to stretch out on the hole. The great man did not fly well out of his skin. He drove out the catchpolls to bring the refugees back. The Pandurs roamed the lazy, the mountains, the huts, but the villagers seemed to have fallen to the ground. In the evening, the weary fell asleep somewhere on the mountain hut. At dawn after a good night's sleep, catchpolls ordered the breakfast. But the sheppard was of a different opinion. The sun is supposedly already on the pilgrimage, and the lord of the bastards must also take on duty and it will be easy for them. Andrej and his companions relieved them of the burden of the catchpolls armor in their sleep. The Pandurs sat on their arms like a mound of misfortune. But they could not return to Vígľaš empty-handed. What are you doing now? Bača offered to take them to the service. It is said that never before or after they had rarer shepherds than Viglas catchpolls under Poľana.

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