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STARA LUBOVNA CASTLE
Castle Stará Ľubovňa
together with castles Plaveč and Nedeca on the eastern side and Orava
castle on the western side of the High Tatra mountains belongs to a
complex of fortresses, that once protected the borders of former Hungary
with Poland.
Pictures
below were taken at the opening of the Summer Season 2000, April 30.
The castle was developed
from a former border fortress. It lies on a high mount above former
important trade route from east to west and southwest to Austria and
Italy. It also controlled additional route leading north to Poland through
ancient border crossing at Mnisek under Poprad. Copper and silver ore
from Slovak mines was shipped through this route to Baltic sea ports and
many other goods among them famous Hungarian wine was shipped on the rafts
down the river Poprad, Dunajec and Vistula to Warsaw and to the Baltic sea
ports.
There is no written
evidence on the founding of the castle. First written document mentioning
the castle is from 1311, but the castle existed most probably earlier. It
had been founded perhaps in the last decade of the 13th Century. The
castle belonged originally to the King but soon it became a feud of the
top aristocratic families Aba and Drugeth. The latter had returned it
after 1330 to the King.
In 1396, the King Zigmund
of Luxembourg had lived there for a long time. In 1412, negotiations
between the Hungarian King and Roman Emperor Zigmund and the Polish King
Vladislav II Jagellon were held here, concerning the fight against the
crusaders and the Turks as well. In the same year, the castle with the
adjacent villages and towns, and with further 13 Spis towns fell under a
special international status, since the King Zigmund for the borrowed
money had pledged the castle to the Polish King. The contract originally
intended as temporary measure, lasted 360 years until 1772. Though the
castle remained Hungarian possession, it was actually ruled by the Polish
King through the captains-mayors who belonged to the high Polish
aristocracy, who not only maintained it, but also forced the adjacent
towns and villages to pay the taxes and tenths from the castle's feuds.
In 1470, captain Preslav
of Dimogice began reconstructing the castle. Under the rule of his
successor Peter Kmith, the King Jan Albrecht with his royal group visited
the castle in 1494. In the first half of the 16th Century the castle was
architecturally completed and modernized. Further 3 towers were erected
below the castle. Before the completion of the reconstruction in 1553, the
castle had burned down to the ground. Then, under the sponsorship of
excellent architects active in the Krakow court - Jan Frankenstein and
Anton Italicus, they began with the castle's construction and extension.
The works performed during 1554-1557 virtually gave the castle the today's
shape and size. It is built as a Renaissance palace and fortress. At that
time also new water main was built to the castle.
In 1587, the castle was
occupied for two years by Austrian army. About 1593, the castle became a
feud of Lubomirsky family, important Polish politicians and army
commanders. The castle remained in their possession until 1745. At the
beginning of the 17th Century, Sebastian Lubomirsky reconstructed the
castle. In 1642-1647, his son Stanislav Lubomirsky had constructed the new
palace nearby, the Gun Bastion, the chapel and the entrance gate. In
1655-1661, the Polish coronation treasury was hidden here from the Swedish
army.
After the death of
Theodor Lubomirsky in 1745, the castle went back under the Polish Crown -
to the hand of the Queen Maria Jozefa. At that time several houses and
economic buildings into which the castle's inhabitants began moving
gradually, were built below the castle. In 1757, the castle went to the
hands of the Saxon nobleman Heinrich von Bruel. The last Polish owner of
the castle was the King's brother Kazimierz Poniatowski. In late March
1769, the castle was captured by the army of "Barska"
confederation, after their retreat, in April of the same year, it was
occupied by Austro-Hungarian army. Thus, a new era of the castle's history
began, mainly after its definite return back to the Hungarian Crown in
1772, during the First Division of Poland. After the transfer it was used
by the army and then by the State Government.
In 1825, the castle
was purchased by the Levoca's nobleman Felix Raisz who reconstructed
a part of it into an inhabitable state and he himself lived there. After
that it went to the possession of the predicate "Lublovari."
In 1880 it was
purchased by the town of Stara Lubovna, and two years later by
the Polish nobleman Zdmorski who reconstructed it several times, equipped
it with furniture and used it as his seat. In 1930's the castle was again
reconstructed.
After the end of the
World War II, the castle went to the hands of the Czechoslovak State-it
was simply confiscated. First it served the needs of the School of
Agriculture, then in 1966 the museum was opened, and, at the same time its
major reconstruction began. At present, a systematic reconstruction and
conservation of the castle is underway.
The museum focuses on the
documentation of the history of the castle and its surroundings during the
era of the Polish rule and documentation of folk crafts, folk costumes and
folk art. There are collections of folk textiles and their use,
blueprints, gingerbread-making, candle-making, basket making which
survives to the present time in the nearby village Lackova, tinkery,
which was until recently a typical supplementary employment of men living
in several surrounding villages. Interesting are also the collections of
glass-paintings.
GO
TO SLOVAKIA'S CASTLES
Published in the Slovak Heritage
Live newsletter Volume3, No.3, Fall 1995
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1995
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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