In July evening sunshine, the shadow of an ancient circular keep or donjon tower lengthens towards ruined buildings lining the upper courtyard of Spiš Castle or Spišský hrad. The formidable stronghold was founded in the 1200s by Hungarian kings on a limestone spur high above the town of Spišské Podhradie, set amid the rolling landscape of eastern Slovakia’s Košice Region.
Spiš Castle, Spišské Podhradie, Košice Region, eastern Slovakia: a cylindrical medieval keep or donjon tower about 22m (72 ft) in diameter casts a bulky shadow in early evening summer sunshine towards the ruins of substantial rubble buildings bordering the upper courtyard of Spiš Castle or Spišský hrad, a formidable fortress built in the 1200s AD by Hungarian kings. The castle stands on a spur of travertine limestone rising to a height of about 200m (650 ft) above the surrounding pastoral landscape and town of Spišské Podhradie, and was built of the same material. Apart from the cylindrical keep, the upper courtyard also encloses a two-storey Romanesque palace. The fortress was strongly defended, with an outer palisade, ditches, soaring curtain walls, towers and bastions. It survived a Tartar siege in 1241 and was then the focus of further armed conflicts as noble owners rebelled against the monarchy and fought each other for the right to own it. Spiš grew to become Central Europe’s largest fortified complex, but in the late 1600s, its last private owners, the Csáky family, moved to a more comfortable home and in 1780, the site was abandoned after a disastrous fire. It then suffered many decades of neglect. A thorough restoration programme, launched in 1969, led to the castle and its environs being granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Extensive archaeological research has been carried out at the site and the fortress is now a popular visitor attraction. Despite being robbed of much of its original stone, the remains still illustrate the stages in castle development through the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Spiš Castle or Spišský hrad, Košice Region, Slovakia.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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