Bojnice castle fire 1950, Slovakia
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Rikitan
N 48° 46.736 E 018° 34.648
34U E 322034 N 5405711
The famous fire of Bojnice castle (Slovakia), which happened on May 9th, 1950.
Waymark Code: WMD7RT
Location: Trenčiansky kraj, Slovakia
Date Posted: 12/02/2011
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member saopaulo1
Views: 30


Bojnice castle is a romantic castle, partially retained on Gothic and Renaissance base, firstly mentioned in 12th century documents. It is one of the most beautiful medieval in Slovakia.

The most destroying fire in modern era of the castle broke out on May 9th, 1950 shortly after nine o'clock in the morning. Caused by men who were trying to cram 15-meter chimney rod coated with a burning cloth. Chimney ignited, does not hold pressure, and got ripped. Sparks hit the roof covered with wooden shingles, where the flames started to spread uncontrollable speed.

In Bojnice interfered 21 firefighting teams from near and far. The flames were huge, they managed to get them under control by 1pm and completely extinguish just two days later. The flames caused extensive damage. They climbed up to 15 million crowns then. All towers and roofs of the Middle Castle were destroyed. Six firefighters were injured.

After the fire, it seemed that nobody will find budget for the reconstruction. Finally, however, the opposite happened. The money was found, castle repaired, and became a museum as a testament to the nobility wished his last owner, Count Palfi.
Bojnicky zamok je romanticky zamok, s ciastocne ponechanym povodne gotickym a renesancnym zakladom hradu. Prvykrat bol spomenuty v Zoborskej listine z roku 1113 a pocas staroci si presiel mnohymi prestavbami. Sucasny romanticky neogoticky vzhlad mu dal na prelome 19. a 20. storocia rozsiahlou prestavbou grof Jan Frantisek Palfi.

9. maja 1950 zamok postihol najnicivejsi poziar modernych cias. Vypukol kratko po deviatej rano, sposobili ho muzi, ktori sa snazili prepchat 15-metrovy komin tycou obalenou horiacou tkaninou. Komin sa vznietil, nevydrzal tlak a roztrhlo ho. Iskry dopadli na strechu pokrytu drevenym sindlom, odkial sa plamene zacali nekontrolovatelne sirit.

V Bojniciach vtedy zasahovalo 21 hasicskych timov zo sirokeho okolia, poziar sa im podarilo zlikvidovat az po 2 dnoch. Znicene boli strechy celeho Stredneho hradu, skody sa vysplhali do vysky 15 milionov korun. Napriek tazkej situacii po vojne sa rychlo nasli zdroje na rekonstrukciu. Uz v septembri 1950 v nom zacalo fungovat Nitrianske krajske muzeum.
Sources: wikipedia, newspapers SME, unique autentic short movie from 1950 by Mikulas Bettes.
Type of Structure: Public building

Construction Date: 01/01/1113

Fire Date: 05/09/1950

Structure status: Still standing building

Cause of Fire:
Fire was caused by men who were trying to cram 15-meter chimney rod coated with a burning cloth. Chimney ignited, does not hold pressure, and ripped it. Sparks hit the roof covered with wooden shingles, where the flames started to spread uncontrollable speed.


Documentation of the fire: [Web Link]

Other: Not listed

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