It is also one of the oldest and most distinguished of Slovak fortresses, standing on
a travertine hill above the town. The first written records of its existence come from
1113 in a document from the Zobor abbey. In this Latin written document
King Koloman confirmed the property as belonging to the
Benedictine monastery of St. Hypolita in the upper Nitra.
Originally the fortress was made from wood and grew out of the older fortress. Gradually over the 13th century it was built up from stone as property of the
Poznanovec family. The outer walls of the fortress were shaped according to the uneven rocky terrain, so creating the irregular outline with extended fortification.
At the end of the 13th century Bojnice was seized by the magnate
Matus Cak Trenciansky and the fortress remained in his hands until 1321. After him, in the 14th and 15th centuries, ownership of the fortress changed hands between the following noble families :
Gileth, Leustach and
Noffry. The result of the
building activities of that time is the preserved outline in the shape of an extended oval of the central living quarters of the fortress built around the small courtyard with well.
Bojnice fortress and its domain were always
part of the Royal property, with the King handing out pledges or privilege of heritage to the given magnates.
In 1489
King Matej Korvin presented the fortress together with its domain to his illegitimate son
Jan Korvin. It is rumoured that King Matej himself took pleasure in visiting Bojnice and would sit
under the lime tree opposite the fortress’s entrance, which was named the
King Matej Lime tree. He would dictate official documents in its shadow, which would begin : ‘ Sub nostris dilectis tillis Bojniciensibus’.
After the death of King Matej the fortress was seized by the
Zapolsky troops, who inhabited it till 1526. At this time a mighty fortress fortification was built, which, with its walls and towers, has remained preserved till the present day. The lowering bridge at the entrance gate connected to the inner fortress walls interrupted at regular intervals by the four towers, with the outer enclosure fortification were also built at the same time.
In 1527
King Ferdinand I. presented the fortress to
Alexej Thurzo. The Thurzos renovated the fortress and transformed it into a
renaissance seat. The original Gothic fortress received the character of a renaissance castle with equally high living quarters arranged around the internal courtyard. This face of the fortress we have preserved in the drawings of the town and fortress by
J. Ledentua.
After the Thurzo family died out, the fortress once more fell to the crown and
King Ferdinand III. presented it to
Pavol Palffy in 1644 for his assistance in the
battle against the Turks and rebellious Hungarian nobles. Construction began once more in Bojnice and the fortress received a
baroque resemblance. In this stage of building the old stone of the fortress was not fully taken into consideration, with the result that the living and representational quarters were shifted to the forefront of the fortress. Construction work to the fortress quietened down at the end of the 17th century and its facade did not alter throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
After a long period of stagnation and deterioration, Bojnice together with its domain was obtained by its last owner
Count Jan Frantisek Palffy in 1852. He was a renowned private collector who through his efforts raised the overall standard of the fortress. His inborn feeling for art together with that cultivated by long term stays abroad, was reflected in the intentional and
systematic collection of artistic works. The best expression of this was given by himself in the quote :
‘The motive and aim of my foreign travel and stays abroad in my long life, was not only to satisfy my own personal appetite for art, but also to gain from the treasure of foreign countries, so rich in artistic artifacts, as much as possible under the given circumstances and which my financial means would permit. In so doing I brought to my country such artistic works of art which would contribute to the overall enriching of our artistic taste at home, while at the same time encourage interest in art’. If he managed to reach this aim, described in his testament, is confirmed by the reality that after his death, in 1910 experts estimated his property as having a value of 90 million crowns.
Apart from palaces in Vienna and Budapest, in Slovakia he had six seats : a palace in Bratislava, a castle in Bojnice, and mansions in Kralova, Pezinok, Sucha nad Parnou and Trstena na Ostrova.
The main point in decorating the individual mansions and palaces was the effort of Count Palffy to create a
united architectural whole of the exterior and interior. From this point of view, foremost is the castle in Bojnice which Count Palffy had done
in the style of the French gothic castles of the Loire valley. The main architect for the reconstruction was
Jozef Hubert from Bratislava. The renovation of the interior in the spirit of Tiroli gothic was entrusted by Count Palffy to the Innsbruck company Gebruder Colli. The extensive neo-gothic renovation was carried out during the years
1889 to 1910 and changed the fortress into an enchanting castle. Count Palffy did not live to see its completion as he died in Vienna on the 2nd of June 1908.
In his last testament Count Palffy expressed the wish that his palaces in Vienna and Budapest, mansion in Kralova and his castle in Bojnice, be accessible for the public and that the works of art remain in their original place and that tours be made possible for those interested. The Count did not reckon on the fact that his wish would only be fulfilled several years later, in 1950 to be exact, when the castle was run by the Nitrianske County Museum. In 1970 the castle was
declared as a National cultural monument.
Links:
www.bojnicecastle.sk
www.slovakheritage.org
Wiki - Bojnice castle
www.zamky.sk