The Palanok Castle or Mukachevo Castle is a historic castle in the city of Mukachevo in the western Ukrainian oblast (province) of Zakarpattia. The Palanok Castle is delicately preserved, and is located on a former 68 metre high volcanic hill. The castle complex consists of three parts: the high, middle, and low castle.
The founding cornerstone for the castle was laid sometime in the 14th century by the members of the Hungarian noble family Aba and was an important fortification of the Kingdom of Hungary throughout the centuries. The castle was later transformed into an impregnable fortress by French engineers. After the storming of the Bastille, a famous French prison, the Palanok Castle was used as an all-European political prison. Through the centuries, the castle served as a residence to many people: the Koriatovych family for almost 200 years, the Serbian prince Đurađ Branković, Regent of Hungary János Hunyadi, and the wife of a Hungarian king, Laiosh Maria, among many others.
During the ownership of Prince Fedir Koriatovych, the castle became one of the most protected castles in the region. The prince and his family lived in the highest part of the castle, which had lavishly decorated interiors. Francis II Rákóczi later used the castle as the centre of a war of independence led by himself. In 1726, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, granted Palanok Castle with Mukacheve, Chynadiyovo and 200 villages to Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn who had elected and crowned him and was one of his main political supporters within the Empire. The estate, one of the largest in Eastern Europe, remained in the family well into the 20th century. From 1796 to 1897, Palanok Castle was used as a prison. During 1805–1806, the Crown of St. Stephen was kept within the castle to protect it from Napoleon I's troops. In 1926, the castle was used as a barracks, and later as an agricultural college.
At the time of the castle's height, it had a strong protection: 164 cannons of varying sizes and 60 barrels of gunpowder. The castle was also surrounded by a deep moat, surrounded by high wooden walls, to protect the castle from invaders.
The total area of the castle is 14,000 m². The castle consists of 130 different rooms with a complex system of underground passages connecting them together. The castle currently houses a museum dedicated to the history of Mukachevo and the castle.

Palanok Castle (Mukachevo castle)

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A bit of history. The village of Chinadievo is found just 12 km outside of Transcapatian second largest city – Mukachevo. As such, the history of the village is tightly interrelated with the history of this town. The manuscripts appear to mention Chinadievo as early as 1214 as Saint Miklosh. This is the Hungarian name which is found in the official papers all the way up until 1944. The name itself originates from the medieval castle named after Saint Nicholas. In 1264 the King Ishtvan V gave the village away as a gift to magister Aladar, who was the King’s representative in Galicia at the time. At the end of the 14th century, in 1387 to be exact, Chinadievo became part of the property of the Perenyi family. The castle was built in the village in the 15th century. Architecturally, it’s very typical of other roman medieval buildings of that time. 
The castle itself is a two storey rectangular building with the three-level towers placed at the corners. The thickness of the walls easily reaches a meter. From the birds-eye view, the castle resembles something like a dolly with the two towers making up the wheels. There are 6 rooms on the first floor and a huge lobby. The second floor closely mirrors the layout of the first one. The two floors are connected by a wooden stairway and the basement is just humangous. 
The owners of the castle would be changing along with the owners of the territory. In 1574 the dominia of Chinadievo was bought my Mikhail Telegdi for 22,000 forints. However, In 1610 Ishtvan Nyari was trying to get it and asked the King’s permission to do so for 7,000 forints. The decision did not come through for another 15 years. And another 15 years later, one of the castle walls got decorate by a family crest of the Lonyois. 
In 1657 the castle suffered substantial damage by the Polish forces led by count Lubomirski, which prompted its owners to begin some major renovations. As the time was passing by, the strategic importance of the castle was being gradually lost and in the beginning of the 18th century the building was not standing up to its initial expectations at all. During the war of 1703-1711 the castle was used by the rebels. After the rebel forces conceived a defeat to the Austrian military (June 27th, 1703), the castle became a shelter for Ferenc Rakoczi. Later on, the Mukachevo-Chinadievo dominia came into the possession of the Austrian Emperor. In 1726 the Emperor Karl VI decided to give this land to bishop Schenborn whose family owned it for the next 200 years. 
As you can imagine, the walls of the castle have seen a lot during these times. During the World War II the castle even served as a prison where a few nazi resistance fighters were held and tortured. During the soviet times the local administration of the Communist party (Sel’sovet) inhabited the castle. At one point it was just a warehouse and even the military construction crews responsible for building the highway for the 1980 Moscow Olympics were based here. Now the local enthusiasts are trying to renovate the castle themselves. The state offers little help providing the funds in quantities barely sufficient for any substantial work to be done. It is safe to say, the military personnel based here caused the most damage. The interior was majorly re-arranged in a brutal manner with some of the walls being partially demolished and the holes in the floors made quite randomly to accommodate the stairways. Not to mention the damage to the walls made by numerous holes for the electrical wiring. It is difficult not to feel sad when seeing this while talking a walk through the castle. 
At present there are two churches in Chinadievo. Both of them could be the potential points of interests for the visitors who are into the Transcarpatian heritage. The newer church with the copper domes can be found right next to the main road. It is famous for containing a wood block inside which a cross was once discovered. The second church is a smaller one and can be found behind the houses across the street from the first one. The church of St. Nicholas was built in the 18th century and is connected to the castle of Saint Miklos by a 200 meter tunnel. Unfortunately, at the moment, the entrance to the tunnel is not accessible for the public either from the castle or from the church. At the castle end, it was blocked off during the time when the military was stationed here as a measure to prevent the occasional deserters from escaping. 
http://transcarpathiantours.com/

The Saint-Miklos Castle

The castle was built in romantic style, combining Romanesque and Gothic motifs. The originality of it is that it has 365 windows (number of days), 52 room (number of weeks in a year) and 12 inputs (months) ... 
      The castle of Count Schonborn is located near the village. Chinadievo located at a distance of 17 km. of Mukachevo. 
  
Holders of Count Schonborn often frequented in Chinadievo hunting and recreation. To this end, in 1840 the tract Beregvar built wooden hunting lodge - the summer residence of Count, which he invited his guests to relax and entertainment. 
   
Later reconstructed in a romantic castle. In the design of the lock in the Neo-Renaissance style fits a certain symbolism. In Europe, especially in Germany, there are castles in which the number of towers to the number of days in a year. The project Schönborn lock the basis is astronomical year. 
  
The original design of the castle: the number of windows - 365 - to the number of days a year, 52 rooms - the number of weeks, 12 inputs - number of months. Architecturally castle close to the type of the French Renaissance castle. Every detail of the lock, or chimney, or tower - not just fulfill their utilitarian function, but also act as a decoration construction. 
  
  
Front door and windows decorated with stained glass above them on biblical themes. Over the same building vozvelychuyutsya 4 towers of different forms, each of which is flyazhok carved on it the date of construction of the castle - 1890. Lake in the castle has the contours of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time. 
  
  
The castle is located in the center of the so-called English park, which covers 19 hectares. Space for the castle was chosen so successful that the surrounding landscape during the laying of the park there was no need to change. The park grows many rare species of plants: boxwood, catalpa, Weymouth pine, spruce Canadian, Japanese cherry, pink beech, italian wisteria, silver maple, tree of acetic and others. 
  
  
In 1945, the castle was transformed into a holiday home, and in 1958, after visiting his Nikita Khrushchev, on the basis of its climatological opened the first resort in the Carpathians, which specialized in the treatment of cardiovascular (kardionevrolohichnyh) diseases. 
  
Right in a beautiful historic building trail Station - Count Friedrich in those days took care of the transport infrastructure of their possessions. From the station to the mountain is "old Count's road", but it's closed gate with a large rusty lock. Check-acting, side, there is passable resort.

Castle Schoenborn

The ruins of the castle is located on the flat edge of the village . Murovane fortification was established religious order of the Knights Templar in the XII century ...
After 1312 the castle owned by the monks of Saint Paul, and later - Drugets feudal family , owners of Uzhgorod castle. In the XVIII century. Castle lost its strategic importance and gradually decayed . A specific feature of the castle is that it strengthened the foundation was only one square in plan (19 x 19 m) ​​three-storey tower - dungeon . it built of stone walls at the corners lined with white stone hewn blocks, reaching a thickness of 2.5-3 Login tower was carried out with the second level through the wooden ladders that are removed in case of siege fortifications. The first tier tower with vaulted ceilings used as a utility room ; two higher levels intended to house. For communication between the rooms used vertically internal staircase.
 
Outside the dungeon surrounded by walls of thickness 1 m , forming in terms of square fortification with four corner tower and entrance gate . Next line of defense consists of inner and outer earthen ramparts and moat between them. General parameters of the fortifications were 240 x 210m .
 
From the ancient remains of the castle are preserved only muruvan donjon towers .
The ruins of the castle is a unique monument of defensive architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries , which represents the earliest type of fortifications on the Ukrainian territory.
 
 
Information and photos from the book " Castles and Fortresses" ( 2007r.m.Kyyiv , "Art ")