Restored and rebuilt merlons on the battlements of Hollókő Castle in Nógrád County, northern Hungary, which was founded in the late 1200s and was heavily scarred by battles, sieges and centuries of neglect before undergoing three decades of repairs and conservation work.
Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary: rebuilt and restored walls and merlons on the battlements of medieval Hollókő Castle, now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a top tourist attraction after lying in ruins for more than 200 years. The fortress was founded in the late 1200s in a prime strategic position on the rocky summit of 365m-high (1,198 ft) Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain) in northern Hungary’s Cserhát hills. It was built by the noble Kacsics family, probably as one of the stone castles designed to stop further invasions by the Tatars and Mongols who had recently devastated much of Eastern and Central Europe. The castle was enlarged and strengthened over time with new defensive walls, bastions, and trous de loup booby trap pits. Hollókő had a very turbulent history that included being held by warring local clans and occupied by leaders of the Hussite rebellion and Angevin troops before being captured by invading Ottoman Turks in 1552. Control then switched between Ottomans and Hungarians until it was liberated by Poland’s King John III Sobieski in 1683. In the 1700s, following a rising against the ruling Hapsburgs, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I ordered its partial demolition. Many its stones were then taken by local people to be re-used in other buildings. Extensive renovation work began in the 1960s and lasted for more than 35 years, with a variety of building materials used to patch the castle walls. The fortress and the ethnographic village below it, built by Hungary’s minority Palócz or Palóc community, now jointly comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Size: 2803px × 4213px
Location: Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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