LIKAVKA CASTLE
Likavka Castle is located on close to the main road between
Ruzomberok and Dolny Kubin
about 2 kilometers North of Ruzomberok.
It is clearly visible from the road and it appears to be really huge. A paved
road leads to it, however you aren’t allowed to drive it as the sign at the
start of the road forbids the car entry. Anyway don't try to go there for
few years as the castle is being restored and it is closed to the public. I
got in after a long talk with the foreman of the company, identifying myself
as a reporter. When I told them through the closed iron gate that I am from
Canada, they all started laughing at me saying that I must be crazy, and what
I am doing here, that if they were in Canada, they would never ever come here.
Well I guess I must be crazy, since they weren’t the first ones telling me
that, but I love it in Slovakia, my birthplace.
Likavka is a Royal Castle built in the
mid-14th
century. It was property of the Hunyadi family in the second half of the 15th
century. After destruction of Liptovsky Castle, Likavka became region castle
of Liptov zupa (County). After
1670 when taken by the Imperial Army, Likavka Castle was used as a prison
until 1707, the year of its demolition by orders of Francis Rakoczi II. A Slav
settlement from the Post-Great Moravian times is located South of the castle.
GO
TO SLOVAKIA'S CASTLES
Published in the
Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 5, No. 4, Winter 1997
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1997
3804
Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied,
reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic,
without the express written permission of
Vladimir
Linder. All rights
reserved.
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