TRANSCARPATHIA

Castle in Uzhhorod

Until the 9th century, the castle was a wooden fortress, and this area was inhabited by the Slavs - white Croats. There was a principality headed by Duke Laborets. The chronicler Gesta Gungarorum notes that the castle in Uzhgorod and the entire vicinity belonged to the Laborts. When the principality was attacked by the Magyars, prince Laborets fled to his distant fortress - Zemplín. In the 11th century, the Uzhhorod castle was already a powerful defensive structure, the strength of which is evidenced by the fact that in 1086, during the invasion of the Polovtsy horde led by Kutesk khan, which broke through the Carpathian passes into the Danubian lowlands, the castle of Uzhhorod withstood the siege. In 1312, after the Italian Drugeti brothers helped King Carl Robert of the new Angevin dynasty to suppress the uprising of Archbishop Peter Peteni, Charles Robert donated to Drugetti a castle and land in Uzhgorod. During the 350-year reign of the Drugetti, the castle in Uzhhorod underwent great changes in the art of fortification. They were mainly caused by the advent of new weapons, especially firearms. All this required a radical reconstruction of the castle, which was carried out at the end of the 16th century with the use of the latest achievements of fortification art in Europe. The castle became a powerful fortress. Its inaccessibility is emphasized primarily by the northern side, which is a massif of high walls, devoid of equal arrowslits. The walls are made of stone. The northern part of the castle was protected by a wedge-shaped bastion.

 

To this day, there are holes for the chains through which the bridge was raised. The thickness of the outer wall of the fortress varied from 2.5 to 3 meters, and the height was 10 meters. During the 13 years of ruling the Uzhgorod Castle, Miklos Berczenyi and Christina Chaki held regular balls here. After the defeat of the Rakoczeko uprising, in 1711 the castle in Uzhgorod passed into the hands of the Austrian crown. At that time, all material goods were taken to Vienna. In 1775 the Austrian Empress Maria Teresa donated the castle to the Greek Catholic diocese of Mukachevo in order to establish a theological academy. At that time, the castle was slightly rebuilt and the Knight’s Hall was demolished. Since 1947, the castle has been used as a local history museum. The castle is now one of the most visited tourist attractions in Uzhgorod and Ukraine. In 2009, the castle took second place in the „7 Wonders of Transcarpathia” competition

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