Oaken steps ascend to today’s arched entrance to medieval Hollókő Castle, built in the late 1200s on the rugged summit of 365m-high Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain) in northern Hungary’s Cserhát hills. The fortress, once occupied by invading Ottoman Turks, is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary: strong oak steps now rise to the arched entrance to medieval Hollókő Castle, built on the rocky summit of 365m-high (1,198 ft) Szár-hegy (Stalk Mountain) in northern Hungary’s Cserhát hills. The castle, now under UNESCO protection, has withstood more than 700 years of wars, sieges, neglect, stone-robbing and patchwork repairs, all leaving their mark on the stronghold. Hollókő, founded in a prime strategic position by the noble Kacsics family in the late 1200s, was probably one of the 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, however, 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 actual 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 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, Hapsburg rulers ordered its partial demolition and many of its stones were then taken by local people. Renovation work began in the 1960s and ended in 1996. The fortress and its village, built by the minority Palócz or Palóc community, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Hollókő is among Hungary’s top tourist attractions.
Size: 2781px × 4178px
Location: Hollókő, Nógrád County, Hungary.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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