Mosonmagyaróvár Castle

King Stephen ordered the building of a castle at Moson to defend the border in the early 11th century. Settlers flocked around the wooden and then stone castle, and by the 11th century it was described as a strong fortress and bustling merchant town. However, in 1030, the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II was able to conquer the castle on his way to the Rába. During the Crusades, Kálmán, King of Győr and Moson, was able to defeat a Swabian-Bavarian army of 15,000 men from the castle. The next disaster occured in 1271, when Ottokar II, a Czech king, leveled the castle.

Béla IV, King of Hungary at the time, did not consider it worthwhile to try and rebuild the castle at Moson. After the fall of Győr to the Ottoman army in 1594, the castle was modernized to withstand a possible future attack by Italian engineers.

In 1683, the new castle was helpless against the retreating Turkish army, which had been repulsed again at Vienna. Both Moson and Magyaróvár were set ablaze. Though the town archives were now completely destroyed, the damage was repaired more quickly this time around, at least quickly enough to allow Rákóczi to use the castle as a base during his war for independence from the Habsburgs. In 1721, after the revolution was crushed, the castle at Magyaróvár lost its strategic importance, and all military materiel was transferred to Bratislava.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Pozsonyi út 86, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary

Details

Founded: 11th century
Category: Castles and fortifications in Hungary