Várak és erődített helyek a Kárpát-medencében

Slovenské Pravno Castle

Slovenské Pravno lies in the southwest part of the geomorphological unit Turiec Basin (Turčianska kotlina) within the central Slovakia. During the Hungarian Kingdom period it fell under Turiec/Turóc County. The village was documentarily recorded for the first time in 1113 as Prauna, later as Prona (1275), Prouna (1293), Prona Sclavonicalis (1453), and Slowenske Prawno (1736). The Hungarian and German equivalents are Tótpróna and Windisch Proben respectively.

It belonged to the Zobor convent, from 1252 to the Turiec convent. In 1279 King Ladislaus IV the Cuman donated the village to the comitat principal Rechko and his sons, by the end of the 14th century it became centre of an eponymous estate. In 1655 it was granted right to organize markets and it began to develop itself as a yeoman small town. Over its history, Slovenské Pravno used to be owned by a string of noble families: Thuróczi, Újfalussy, Balogh, Török, Apponyi, Záblatský, Diviacky, Serafín, Dóczy, Amadeus, Prónay, Justh, and Velič.

Advantageous geographical situation of Slovenské Pravno on the route leading from the lower Nitra/Nyitra County up to Poland gave the village its craftsman-trade character. This could be one of the reasons to build a lesser castle near the village. The castle is located on a hillock named Šiance or Hradisko (563 m) in the village´s northern tip. It was probably built as early as in the 11th century, using an older fortification site. Cleverly utilized mountain spur got converted into a round acropolis (45 – 50 m in diameter) and two adjoining annular ramparts with fosses. These are most massive on the northern side in the neighbourhood of the saddle, and have no inner construction. The overall dimensions of the castle´s area show 60 – 70 m in diameter. According to the actual terrain features they fringed the apical platform with a masonry defensive wall that has been fragmentarily preserved until today on the northern and eastern side of the acropolis´ slope.

At first there used to stand a timber tower-like solitaire atop the acropolis, which was later substituted for a stonework one (5 × 8 m) in the 13th century. Foundations of this central building could be reportedly seen even in the 1950s, nowadays the apical platform suffers heavy damage due to limestone excavation done several decades ago. A few regular traces after the archaeological probes appear on the locality´s surface.

We´re allowed to theoretically date the doom of the castle back to 1432 when the Hussite troops marched beneath it on their way from Rajec down to Nitra/Nyitra County. On the other hand, numerous historical sources from the 13th and 14th centuries do not mention any castle in Slovenské Pravno, which could mean the castle ceased to exist much more earlier.

/Rastislav Tóth/

Literature

BEŇKO, Ján: Starý Turiec. First edition. Martin: Osveta 1996. 279 pp.

DVOŘÁK, Pavel: Odkryté dejiny. (Staré Slovensko). First edition. Bratislava: Pravda 1976. 368 pp.

Encyklopédia miest a obcí Slovenska. First edition. Lučenec: Ps-Line 2005. 960 pp.

HABOVŠTIAK, Alojz: Stredoveké hrádky na Slovensku. In: Vlastivedný časopis, 1972, no. 1, pp 2 – 8.

HABOVŠTIAK, Alojz: Stredoveká dedina na Slovensku. First edition. Bratislava: Obzor 1985. 385 pp.

KRIŽANOVÁ, Eva – PUŠKÁROVÁ, Blanka: Hrady, zámky a kaštiele na Slovensku. First edition. Bratislava: Šport 1990. 258 pp.

KRIŽKO, Pavol: Historické pamätnosti v Turci. In: Letopis Matice slovenskej 2, 1870, pp 40 – 42.

Malá encyklopédia Slovenska. First edition. Bratislava: Veda 1987. 664 pp.