According to local legend, Hollókő Castle, a medieval fortress with a pentagonal keep in Nógrád County, northern Hungary, was built from rocks brought by satanic ravens who dismantled another stronghold stone by stone. More probably, Hollókő (Ravenstone in Hungarian) was raised to ward off Tatar or Mongol invaders.
Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary: the Hungarian national flag flies from the pentagonal keep of Hollókő Castle, built in the Cserhát Hills by the noble Kacsics family in the late-1200s, probably to help prevent a repeat of the Tatar or Mongol invasion that had recently devastated much of Eastern and Central Europe. However, a much more romantic legend still surrounds the foundation of Hollókő, which means Ravenstone in Hungarian. It tells of Andras Kacsics, lord of neighbouring Pusztahegy, kidnapping the beautiful wife of a rival leader, unaware that her wet nurse or nanny was a witch. The witch made a pact with Satan, whose sons, disguised as ravens, kept carrying off the stones of the lord’s castle until he agreed to free the girl. The stolen rocks were used to build Hollókő Castle in its present location on the summit of Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain or Hill). The genuine history of the castle, first mentioned in 1310, is very turbulent. The medieval fortress was strengthened and expanded over time with new walls, bastions, living quarters and cisterns. It was occupied at various times by warring local families, Hussite leaders and Angevin troops, before being captured by Ottoman Turks in 1552. Control of Hollókő then switched between Ottomans and Hungarians until John III Sobieski, King of Poland, liberated it in 1683. Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I ordered its partial destruction in the early 1700s and much of its stonework was then taken by local people for re-use. Work to renovate the ruined castle began in the 1960s and in 1987, the stronghold and the traditional village below it, built by the minority Palócz or Palóc community, were jointly designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The work finished in 1996 and the castle and Palócz village are now among Hungary’s top tourist attractions.
Size: 2657px × 3981px
Location: Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -sided, 1552, 1629-1696, andras, captured, castle, castles, clan, county, cserhá, , devil, dropping, eastern, emperor, europe, european, family, flag, folklore, fort, fortifications, fortress, fortresses, hapsburgs, heritage, hill, hills, holloko, hollóő, holy, hungarian, hungary, hussite, iii, invasion, john, kacsics, kerr, kidnapped, king, legend, legends, leopold, medieval, mongol, mongols, national, noble, northern, obvious, ottoman, pact, pentagonal, ravens, ravenstone, rebels, renovated, repairs, restored, robbed, rocks, roman, ruined, satan, site, sobieski, sons, stalk, stone, stronghold, szá-hegy, tartar, tatar, tatars, terence, tower, turks, unesco, wife, world, ógrá
