Rock-solid foundations: the repaired rubble walls of medieval Hollókő Castle seem to grow out of the rocky summit of 365m-high Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain) in northern Hungary’s Cserhát hills. The fortress, built in the late 1200s, is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary: the repaired rubble walls of medieval Hollókő Castle are moulded to the contours of the rocky summit of 365m-high (1,198 ft) Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain) in northern Hungary’s Cserhát hills. The fortress, now under UNESCO’s protection, has stood through more than seven centuries of wars, sieges, neglect, stone-robbing and patchwork repairs, all leaving their mark on the much-diminished stronghold. Hollókő, founded in a prime strategic position by the noble Kacsics family , was among several stone castles built to stop further invasions by the Tatars and Mongols who had recently swept through Eastern and Central Europe. According to romantic local legend, Hollókő (Ravenstone in Hungarian) was built after Andras Kacsics, lord of nearby Pusztahegy, kidnapped 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 taking the stones of the lord’s castle until he agreed to free the girl. The stolen rocks were used to build Hollókő Castle. The genuine history of the castle, first mentioned in 1310, features much more fighting than romance. It was enlarged and strengthened over time with new defensive walls, bastions, and ‘wolf’ or booby trap pits. Hollókő was held by warring local clans, Hussite leaders and Angevin troops before being captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1552. Control then switched between Ottomans and Hungarians until it was liberated by Poland’s King John III Sobieski in 1683. Decades later, the Hapsburgs ordered its partial destruction and many of its stones were then taken by local people for re-use. Renovation work began in the 1960s and ended in 1996. The fortress and its village, built by the minority Palócz or Palóc community, are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Hollókő is one of Hungary’s top tourist attractions.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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