Ancient whipping or scourging bench on which prisoners were held by hinged wrought iron restraining bands, displayed in the museum within Spiš Castle, a formidable fortress in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia built by Hungarian kings in the early 1200s. Other exhibits include weaponry and suits of armour.
Spiš Castle, Košice Region, eastern Slovakia: this whipping or scourging bench, on which the victim was held down by hinged wrought iron bands, is among the gruesome instruments of torture displayed in the museum housed in a rebuilt section of this formidable fortress built in the early 1200s by the kings of Hungary. Other exhibits include weaponry and suits of armour. Spiš Castle or Spišský hrad was built to replace an earlier stronghold on a 200m-high (650 ft) limestone spur. It withstood a siege by Tartar invaders in 1249 and was involved in further warfare involving noble families either rebelling against the monarchy or fighting amongst themselves. The castle was strongly defended by an outer palisade, ditches, curtain walls, towers and bastions and it grew to become the largest fortified complex in Central Europe. However, in the late 1600s, its last private owners moved to a more comfortable home and after a disastrous fire in 1780, the site was abandoned. It then suffered many decades of neglect. A restoration programme launched in 1969 led to the castle and its environs winning UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1993 and it is now a popular visitor attraction. Despite being robbed of stone over several decades, the remains still illustrate the stages in castle development through the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
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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